Before I Wake To Find You Gone
by GeneralQuistis-Zhakeena
Summary: A girl gets washed up in the Junon Harbor and only Vincent Valentine knows her. Rufus ShinRa and Cloud Strife have other ideas about the girl's identity...and they're out to stop her...but will Vincent Allow it?
1. Chapter One

Before I Wake To Find You Gone

By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com) 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…

Author's note: Setting is Neo-ShinRa… yadda yadda yadda….. nyaks nyaks nyaks. I'm not in the right mood. The title comes from one of the songs that I heard from the radio… don't know the title… and yeah, I don't own the song. -.-'

---------------------------------------------------- 

            He opened his eyes and saw darkness surrounding him. He had another nightmare… though he thought that it'd be better if he did not wake up from it…

"Maybe that nightmare could kill me… I'm better off dead anyway…" he thought miserably.

Now why did he wake up?

There it was again… that sound.

He had been hearing it in his sleep. Someone was walking upstairs and he could hear the footsteps. "Someone's in this place?" he thought as he opened the lid of his coffin and got out from it. He quickly made his way upstairs, remembering that Cloud, Barret and Tifa would be visiting. 

But when he got upstairs, no one was there.

"Cloud?" he called out.

No answer.

"Tifa?"

No answer.

"Barret?"

Clack, clack, clack…

Those footsteps again.

"Barret, is that you?" he called out.

Silence.

He shrugged and began to search around the ShinRa Mansion to see if someone was really there. When he found that there was no one else in the house but himself, he just decided to sit on one of the steps of the old staircase and wait for his visitors while fighting the urge to fall asleep again.

He just sat there, staring miserably at the front door while thinking, "Maybe those are just ghosts…" 

His thoughts were interrupted when the front door just swung open. Expecting it to be Cloud or Tifa or Barret, his fight somewhat lit up in delight upon seeing his friends again, but he froze and his expression returned to sulking again when he realized that it wasn't any of his friends.

It was Rufus ShinRa.

"What the hell is he doing here?" he thought silently as he stared at the young President of ShinRa.

"I knew I'd find you here." Rufus began as he approached him.

He just looked up at Rufus as he remained seated on the step.

Rufus stopped right before the stairs, staring down at the seated man in front of him. "Vincent Valentine, correct?" he asked.

"Yes," Vincent replied.

Rufus shoved his hands inside his trouser pockets as he smiled awkwardly at Vincent. "Let me get this straight… you were once a Turk, right?" he asked.

"Yes,"

Rufus stared at him for a few seconds before speaking up again. "I found your I.D. picture and your old files… because I also located it in one of our prisoners in Junon." He said.

"What prisoner?" Vincent asked.

"A woman."

Vincent raised his eyebrows as he stood up and went down, approaching Rufus. "What woman?" he asked.

"We don't know her name, unfortunately. But maybe you could help us…" Rufus explained.

Vincent thought for a while before nodding his head. "I don't understand what you are talking about, President Rufus, but I will come with you." He said.

Rufus nodded his head and flipped his hair before leading the way outside to the chopper. 

During the flight to Junon, Vincent accidentally mentioned, "Oh no…"

Rufus turned to him. "What's the matter?" he asked with a frown.

"I…I forgot to leave a note in the ShinRa Mansion to Cloud, Tifa and Barret… they're… supposed to be coming over…" Vincent stammered, not really knowing whether to reveal to Rufus about AVALANCHE coming over to visit him.

Rufus flipped his hair again and just looked outside the window.

"Right… like you care about Cloud, Tifa or Barret…" Vincent thought with a relieved look on his face.

The moment they arrived in Junon, the Turks welcomed them.

"Welcome back, President Rufus," Elena greeted.

Rufus nodded in greeting. "Where's the woman?" he asked.

"She's in one of the isolation rooms." Reno replied.

Rufus turned to Vincent. "Follow me," and led the way.

As they were walking, Rude handed Vincent a picture of a man wearing the Turk uniform. 

Vincent got the picture and recognized his young self. "Wh… where did you get this?" he asked.

"From the woman." Reno replied.

"We figured you might know her because she's holding your picture but we asked if she knows you and she said she couldn't remember anything," Elena explained.

Vincent frowned slightly as he continued to walk.

The moment they reached the isolation room where the woman is, they thought that she had escaped; however, she was only seated in one corner of the room, gazing up at them in awe.

Vincent stepped inside, his heart beating faster as he approached her.

Her eyes were wide in curiosity as she stared up at his red eyes. 

Vincent stared unbelievably at her long brown hair draped loosely on her shoulders. 

"Do you know her?" Rufus asked.

Vincent smiled happily, wanting to fight back the tears from his eyes. He nodded to Rufus's question, but he did not turn away from her.

He did not stop himself anymore; he just ran to her, knelt down before her and embraced her tightly, surprising all the others in the room, including the girl.

As he rested his head on her shoulder, he let his tears fall. "Lucrecia," he whispered softly.

Rufus raised an eyebrow as he observed them.

"What the… are they lovers?" Reno asked in surprise.

"Maybe… why is he hugging her?" Elena asked in disbelief.

Vincent faced Lucrecia, not ashamed to show her his tears falling uncontrollably from his eyes. "Lucrecia… why… how… oh never mind! I'm just glad that you're here!" he said before hugging her again.

Lucrecia blinked, her eyes were still wide in surprise. "Lucrecia?" she asked.

Vincent sensed the curiosity in her voice so he stopped and just faced her in awe. She blinked. "Is that my name?" she asked with a look of wonder on her face.

Vincent's eyes grew wide. "Wh…why, yes… you mean…you don't know your name?" he asked.

Lucrecia shrugged. "Well… but you said that my name is Lucrecia, right?" she asked.

Her tone sounded like she was an innocent child…

Vincent turned to Rufus. "Where did you find her?" he asked with a serious but hurtful look on his face.

"She was in the Junon Harbor… when some of the Soldiers attempted to help her, she just smacked their faces in defense… maybe she thought they're going to harm her or something… so they had to bring her here to imprison her. They called President Rufus afterwards in Midgar and he came here immediately to check on her," Elena explained.

Rufus looked away and waved to the Turks to catch their attention, "Get this woman out of here." He commanded before turning back to Vincent. "What's her name again?" he asked.

"L…Lucrecia…" Vincent replied with a weak smile as he helped her up.

Rufus nodded before proceeding to the door. "I want you both to come with me to Midgar. I have more things that I wish to discuss to you about her," he said before exiting.

Lucrecia was staring at Vincent in awe. "Is Lucrecia really my name?" she asked.

"Well… yes…" he replied weakly.

"Hah! Don't tell me that girl's got amnesia?" Reno asked in disbelief.

"How can you be sure that that girl is Lucrecia?" Elena pointed out.

Vincent looked at Lucrecia's green eyes… resembling someone else's. He smiled gently and then turned back to Elena. "Yes, this is Lucrecia. I know her… she…" he trailed off and looked at the floor, realizing that the situation could be complicated. "…she knew me," he continued with an unsure tone.

"What is your name?" Lucrecia cut in as she looked up at him with a sweet but innocent smile on her face.

He turned back to her again and he couldn't help but smile back at her. "I'm Vincent Valentine… Do…do you remember me?" he asked with a hopeful look on his face.

She stared up at him for a while and shook her head slowly. "N…no. I don't. I'm not even positive if I've known you before," she said.

Vincent exchanged confused looks with Reno, Rude and Elena. 

Elena approached them and led them to the hallway outside. "But Mister Valentine, you said that you know her. How come she doesn't know you?" she asked.

"Maybe that girl's got some kind of amnesia or something." Reno pointed out.

"How so?" Vincent asked.

"Maybe she's riding a boat or a ship and it sank… and she got washed ashore… but she hit her head before… oh whatever… I'm not sure…" Reno shrugged.

"I wonder what President Rufus is up to now. How come he wants you and Lucrecia to come with him to Midgar?" Elena asked as she joined Vincent and Lucrecia again, moving away from Reno.

"You heard Rufus; he's gonna be asking them questions." Reno told Elena.

"I'm not talking to you," She snapped at him.

Vincent ignored them and just stared at Lucrecia. He had to admit, he really missed her very much. Then, he just remembered something and it made his heart suddenly jump. 

The picture.

Elena had mentioned earlier that Lucrecia was holding his picture when they found her.

"But how am I going to ask her about that picture… oh well… give it a shot…" he thought before smiling at her. "Lucrecia," he began.

"Yes?" she turned to him.

"Elena mentioned that you were holding… a picture… uh…" he stammered, realizing that the Turks were watching them closely.

Lucrecia blinked. "That picture? Where is it?" she asked.

She stopped walking and faced him with a worried look on her face. "Please give it back to me… I am looking for him." She explained.

"Looking for him?" Reno asked.

Vincent was trying to fight the urge to say, "Are you sure it's not Hojo that you're looking for?" but he just shrugged off his thoughts and turned to Reno, not really knowing what to say to Lucrecia.

Rude spoke up, "Do you know the man in that picture?" he asked.

"N…no." she replied sadly.

Vincent scratched his head and he felt his hair against his hands and touched it, looking at it with wide eyes.

"No, don't cut it, Mister Valentine." Elena said with a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure you cannot remember anything?" Rude asked Lucrecia.

Lucrecia stared at Vincent, examining his features from head to toe… seeing the claw and his red eyes. She narrowed her eyes as she focused her gaze into his eyes. She could see faint images from the back of her mind, but they were so unclear that she couldn't quite understand any of those.

She just turned back to Rude and shook her head. "I can't remember anything… I don't even know who I am and where I came from!" she explained.

"Don't worry," 

She turned back to Vincent when she felt his right hand touch her shoulder.

He smiled gently at her. "I will help you," he told her reassuringly.


	2. Chapter Two

Before I Wake To Find You Gone

By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com) 

Disclaimer: We don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

            Yuffie turned to the door once she heard it open. "You guys are back already?" she asked as Cloud, Barret and Tifa entered the house.

"Vincent isn't home." Tifa explained with a disappointed look on her face.

Yuffie blinked. "I thought he knows that you're coming over?" she asked.

"Maybe he forgot or something," Cloud explained as he sat down on the couch, sighing heavily.

"That foo's not in the ShinRa Mansion… wonder where he went…" Barret said as he leaned against the wall.

Yuffie switched off the television and turned to them. "It's so unlikely for Vincent to just forget about visitors…" she said.

From the kitchen, they heard Aerith's voice calling for them, "Dinner's ready!"

Cloud was the first one to run to the kitchen.

"You guys missed the news today. Some girl's been found washed up in the Junon Harbor and Rufus took her here in Midgar," Yuffie announced.

Tifa blinked. "A girl?" she asked.

"Yeah." Yuffie replied.

"What does she look like?" Barret asked.

"She's very pretty. Green eyes… brown hair… her green eyes are somewhat like Sephiroth's. *shudder* Creepy!" Yuffie explained.

Cloud pondered on Yuffie's words. "Hmm… If I remember correctly, that sounds like…. Nope, I don't think so…" he thought out loud. 

Aerith looked at him curiously. "You're saying something, Cloud?" she asked. 

"Aerith… did you watch the news too? You know, coz I think I might know that lady…" Cloud asked. 

"Uhm… I think her name wasn't revealed yet by the media," she replied as she sat down beside Cloud.

Tifa and the others got inside the kitchen and took their seats.

"So what happened to your @#$%^%$ visit to the @#$%^%$ ShinRa Mansion a.k.a. the Haunted House?" Cid asked.

"Vincent's not home," Barret replied with an annoyed look on his face.

Marlene was staring at Cid, then turned to Tifa. "Miss Tifa, what is @#$%^%$?" she asked with an innocent look on her face.

Cloud spit out some water on Tifa's face due to surprise since unfortunately, she was seated facing him.

Barret almost choked.

Cid froze and just turned away.

Aerith's mouth dropped open and her eyes were wide, staring at Marlene.

Yuffie covered her mouth to stop herself from snickering.

"Oh… YUCK! Cloud?!?" Tifa got up and went to the sink to clean herself up.

"Ugh… sorry…" Cloud replied with a sheepish look on his face.

Aerith was covering her mouth in awe as she stared at Marlene unbelievably.

"Did I say something bad?" Marlene asked.

"Uhm… just don't say that ever again, Marlene…" Barret stammered.

"Why? Is @#$%^%$ a bad word?" she asked.

"Doh!" Barret smacked his forehead.

"Yes." All of them replied.

"What makes it bad then?" she asked.

Nobody knows how to answer the question.

"Hey! What makes it a bad word?!" she demanded again.

"The meaning makes it a bad word," Tifa reasoned as she sat down again.

"What's the meaning?" Marlene asked.

"Just eat…" Aerith said with a weak smile on her face.

To change the subject, Cid just spoke up, "So, why would you guys wanna see that Vincent again?" he asked.

"I don't know about Cloud. It's Cloud's idea really," Tifa replied, eyeing Cloud with an annoyed look on her face, still not forgetting about him spitting out water at her.

"Why, what happened?" Aerith asked.

"It's really personal. Can't say it now." Cloud replied before he proceeded to slice his steak.

*** 

            Rufus was eating his dinner with Lucrecia and Vincent.

"So, Vincent… tell me. You were a Turk before?" Rufus started.

"Yes, President Rufus," Vincent replied.

"What year?" he asked.

Vincent stopped eating and pondered for a while. He just smiled sheepishly at Rufus. "I'd rather not say it." He said.

Rufus chuckled lightly. "Fine."

Silence.

"How long have you known Professor…" Rufus turned to Lucrecia, meaning to trigger something in her as he mentioned the name, "Hojo,"

She dropped her fork to the floor accidentally. "Oh… Er…. Excuse me?" she asked.

A servant got her a new one and handed it to her. "Sorry about that," she mumbled.

Vincent frowned slightly. "As far as I can remember, he was already working for ShinRa when I was still a Turk… he was with… Professor Gast and… Lucrecia… working with the Jenova Project. I was the one who accompanied them…" he had this hopeful look on his face, thinking that maybe as he narrated this, Lucrecia could finally remember something.

But it was useless.

"Professor Gast?" Lucrecia asked.

Or so he thought.

"You remember him?" Vincent asked hopefully.

She thought for a while, seeing an image flash in her mind, but it faded away so quickly. "I… I don't know…" she replied.

Rufus sighed. "Are you sure? Try to think a little bit harder." 

"What for? What's… what's the significance of… of all of those questions that you're asking me?" she snapped with a frown on her face, touching her forehead. It was already aching.

Nobody spoke for a few moments. Then, "I don't think this is the right time for this… We'll try again at another time," Rufus said.

Lucrecia shook her head as she got up from her seat and left the room.

Vincent was about to follow her but Rufus stopped him with a verbal reprimand, "Let her go, Valentine. Elena will attend to her," 

Vincent froze in his seat and turned to face Rufus. "Why are you doing this for us anyway, Rufus?" 

"President Rufus," he corrected, "And… it's not like I'm not allowed to help you both, right?" Rufus said with a glint of something in his eyes. What the something was, Vincent wasn't sure. 

"Yes, but it's not like… uhm…" 

"Not like doing this would do something for me. Do you honestly think I'm that selfish, Valentine?" he smirked. "Besides, you two were from ShinRa… there are things that maybe you two could clear up for me. I do not know my own company completely yet. Especially its past…" he continued with a sly look on his face before taking a sip of white wine.

"You can go downstairs in Hojo's lab if you want to know everything." Vincent snapped before standing up. "Excuse me, President Rufus." He said before proceeding to exit.

The moment Vincent got out, Rufus remained seated, smiling slyly as he stared at his wine glass. "Hmf… Strife's right… I can't do this alone…" he muttered before reaching for his mobile phone and started to dial some numbers.

*** 

            "Get that!" Barret called out from inside the bathroom.

"You've been hogging the bathroom for 3 hours already! I need to use it!" Tifa snapped impatiently as she jumped up and down. She really needed to go.

"Answer the friggin' phone first!" he replied from inside.

"Grrr…" Tifa marched to the living room and saw Yuffie there, watching TV with Marlene and Cloud. "Why aren't any of you answering the phone?" she asked in disbelief.

"Too busy." Cloud muttered.

Tifa twitched and just grabbed the receiver to answer the call. "Yeah, what?" she demanded angrily.

*** 

            Rufus raised an eyebrow when he heard the voice. "Ooh… angry." He thought while trying to stop himself from smiling.

"Hello, good evening, miss. May I please speak with Mister Cloud Strife?" he asked with a suave tone as he flipped his hair with his other hand.

*** 

            Tifa raised an eyebrow. "Who's this?" she asked impatiently before turning to Cloud, giving him an it's-for-you look.

*** 

            "If I say my name, she might think that I'm up to something… oh well…" Rufus thought as he shrugged. "Rufus." He told her.

*** 

            Tifa thought for a while before handing the receiver to Cloud. "It's some guy named Rufus. Some friend you got there, Cloud. He sounds like Rufus ShinRa," she said before heading for the bathroom again.

Cloud stared unbelievably at Tifa. "It's Rufus ShinRa," he cleared out.

Yuffie and Marlene both stared at him in disbelief. "WHAT?! Oh my Gawd!!!!!???" the former cried out in awe.

"What do you want?" Cloud asked, answering the call.

"It's your gothic friend and his little girlfriend. I don't know what I'm going to do here with them. I think Vincent and Lucrecia's suspecting something already," Rufus said.

"You asked them questions?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah and I almost got busted. Won't you come over here?" 

Cloud thought for a while. "Sure. Just make sure that your Soldiers and Turks will stay away from me," he said before hanging up.

"That's Rufus ShinRa?" Yuffie asked.

"No, I lied." Cloud fibbed so that they would stop asking questions.

"Yeah, well you are SO a bad liar!" Yuffie yelled after Cloud as he walked out the room. 

Yuffie frowned slightly. "TIFA!" she yelled.

Barret came instead with a glum look on his face. "Teef's in the bathroom. Whaddya want with her?" he asked.

Yuffie stood up, "Cloud just went out!" she said.

"Let him go out. He might want to just take a moonlight walk with Aerith," Barret replied.

"But daddy, Miss Aerith is resting upstairs." Marlene explained.

"Fine… alone?" he asked.

"I don't think he's the type to do that… besides, he mentioned a very ugly name moments ago…" Yuffie began.

"The name isn't ugly, Yuffie." Tifa corrected as she stepped out of the bathroom.

"What's the name?" Barret asked.

"Rufus ShinRa," Yuffie replied with a frown on her face.

"What the fuck?! That darn foo'…" he cursed.

"You think one of us should follow Cloud?" Yuffie asked.

"I'll do it," Tifa presented before running out of the house.

Barret turned to Yuffie with a look of awe on his face. "Maybe we should follow her too…" he said.

"Why? It's not like she'll rape Cloud or something?" she stated jokingly before laughing.

"If she heard you, she'd kill you, Miss Yuffie…" Marlene warned with an impish smile on her face.

"Oh foo'! Whatever… and how'd you know the meaning of the word, Marlene?" Barret demanded from his daughter.

"Heehee! I heard it from Mister Cid!" she replied proudly.

Barret made a face and scratched his head. "I oughtta tell that guy to shut up…" he muttered miserably as he stared helplessly at his daughter.

*** 

            Tifa followed from behind Cloud, though he didn't seem to notice. She wondered at first where he was going; he even took the train… and when the train stopped in Sector 1, Tifa already knew where Cloud was heading…

"ShinRa…" she thought silently with a frown on her face as she stopped in her tracks, hiding behind a tall post before the entrance of the ShinRa HQ grounds. She clenched her fists when she realized that the guards actually let Cloud in. Her mouth dropped open. "How did…" she thought silently in total bewilderment. "Don't tell me he's with ShinRa?" she made a face and sighed heavily. "Now how am I gonna get inside?" she thought silently as she stared up at the tall ShinRa Tower, remembering how they infiltrated it. She smiled weakly. "Heheh… I don't wanna climb up there… I guess I'll just use some brain here…" she stepped out from her hiding place and started to walk all-wobbly, acting like she was dizzy. She approached the gates. "Oh…" she moaned as she reached for her head and just fell to the ground.

The Soldiers were in awe upon seeing a girl just faint. "Oh no!?" 

The three Soldiers approached her and tried to help her up. "Are you okay, miss?"

"Silly, she fainted!" 

"What are we gonna do?"

"Take me inside…" Tifa thought silently.

"Let's just take her inside…" 

She felt herself being lifted up.

"Man, isn't she pretty?"

"Yeah… and look at those…"

"Stop it man?! You guys are perverts!"

Tifa thought for a while upon remembering that she still had some magic. "I could just knock 'em out cold…" with that, she opened her eyes and made the man drop her on the ground by slapping his face. "Ow…" she mumbled under her breath before casting sleep on the three.

They instantly fell asleep, falling to the ground and started snoring.

She sighed contentedly as she got up, rubbing her behind. "That's some nasty fall…" she muttered glumly as she looked around but she hid behind one of the posts away from the security cameras which were practically everywhere. "Where did Cloud go?" she thought silently as she scanned the place from where she is. "At least I'm inside…" she thought with a frown. She was about to make a move for the next hallway to the elevators as quickly as she could, but she stopped herself when she heard some voices from one corner of the lobby.

"Where are you taking me, Vincent?"

"I figured that maybe you would want to take a stroll around Sector 1 so that you could relax, Lucrecia."

"You're too kind, Vincent. But really, I'd rather just stay in my room…"

"Are you sure? You look like you need some fresh air." 

Tifa's eyes grew wide upon seeing Vincent with a woman. "What the… Vincent's in ShinRa? And who's the girl?" she thought in surprise as she covered her mouth to stop herself from gasping.

Lucrecia smiled sweetly at Vincent as he took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. "Thank you, Vincent. Will you come with me then?" she asked.

Vincent smiled at her. "Of course, I will, Lucrecia," he said as he led the way outside, but Lucrecia stopped him first. "But what if Rufus looks for me?" she asked.

"I told Reno that we'd be going out. Rufus is in his office talking to a visitor… whoever he is. Didn't really see." He explained.

With that, they exited the building.

Tifa blinked in awe as she turned her gaze to the elevators. "Cloud's in Rufus's office…" she thought silently before running for the elevators before the security camera could turn to her direction. She made it just in time, one of the elevators were free. She instantly got in and pressed the button to the 70th floor and hoped that no one else would be riding the lift with her. She stayed near the door, leaning closer to it to prevent the security camera from seeing her.

*** 

            "Vincent," Lucrecia began.

"Hmm?" he turned to her.

She was not looking at him but her eyes reflected too much confusion. "Who am I?" she asked.

"I want to tell her but I might confuse her… and maybe if she remembers Hojo, I'll lose her again…" he thought sadly as he looked away.

"Vincent?" she asked again, hoping to have caught his attention.

He smiled gently at her. "I'm so sorry, Lucrecia… but I cannot tell you as of now… I think Rufus is going to be the one to explain everything to you…" he said apologetically.

She looked away, feeling a little disappointed. "Oh well…" she shrugged before sighing heavily. 

Vincent looked away but he was thinking, "Why are you here anyway? And how come you cannot remember anything?" he turned to look at her again and he blushed when he realized that she was staring up at him with a gentle smile on her face. "You remind me so much of someone…" she began.

He raised his eyebrows. "Who?" he asked.

She looked away, turning to the ground. "The man in the picture that I was holding," she explained.

He suddenly remembered something. "You said that you were looking for him, right?" he asked.

She nodded. "But I cannot really remember him… like everything is a blur… but I could remember getting that picture from this old mansion in… in some kind of town, I can't remember it…" she stopped when she felt her heart aching. She gasped for air and just clutched her left chest tightly. "V…Vincent," she struggled to say as she grabbed his arms.

Vincent had this worried look on his face as he helped her. "I think we should get back in ShinRa now…" he told her.

She nodded weakly as she rested her head on Vincent's shoulder.

"I'll just carry you," he said as he began to lift her up in his arms. Lucrecia couldn't help but notice his left claw… and she blinked upon seeing it… and then with wide eyes, she looked up into his red eyes in awe.

She could see clear flashbacks in her mind as they made their way back to ShinRa.

By the time they arrived there, he immediately took her back to her room.

"Here we are," he said as he lay her down gently on the bed. Surprisingly, as he did so, she reached out her right hand to touch his hair as she continued to stare into his eyes. Then, her hand traveled down to his claw and touched it as she trembled. "Vincent?" she asked.

"Yes?" he asked as he sat down on the bed beside her.

She had tears in her eyes as she began to recall more things…

_Their meeting by the gates of Nibelheim_…

Everything.

"It's you… Vincent… it's you…" she said as she began to cry, sitting up quickly so that she could reach out and embrace him tightly. "Oh my God… Vincent… it's you…" she said.

But deep inside her, she wanted to kill herself because of guilt…

Guilt.

She hated it…

It's what had made her suffer for so long…

"But he's here now, right? He will take away the guilt…" she thought silently as she felt his arms wrap around her.

Vincent stared down at her unbelievably. "A…are you okay, Lucrecia?" he asked. "What's going on?" he thought silently in disbelief.

She rested her head on his shoulder. "Please stay here with me…" she said gently.

He blinked and smiled gently at her. "Of course, Lucrecia." He told her reassuringly.

"I…I remember everything now…" she admitted.

He frowned. "Everything?" he asked.

"Yes… the JENOVA project… everything!" she said as more tears streamed down from her eyes.

He swallowed hard, remembering the time when he saw her kissing Hojo… "That bastard…" he thought silently.

"Uhm… Lucrecia," he began.

"Where is Hojo?" she asked.

That's it… the dreaded question. He froze for a few minutes, no knowing how to answer. "If I tell her that he's dead… she might go ballistic… she loved the guy, right?" he thought silently as he bit his lower lip.

"Vincent?" she asked.

He sighed heavily as he loosened his embrace so that he could look at her. "He's… dead." He said simply with a voice that sounded almost like a choke.

Silence.

Nobody moved for a few seconds until they heard someone knocking on the door.

Vincent completely moved away from her so that he could to go the door. He opened it with a weary look on his face. 

It was Reeve.

"Good evening, Mister Valentine. Is Miss Lucrecia okay?" Reeve asked with a kind smile on his face.

Vincent took a look at Lucrecia, who was still seated on the bed and staring at him with wide eyes, then back to Reeve. "She's fine. Except for the fact that she felt some chest pains moments ago… and yes, she can remember everything that happened in the past." He explained in a low but whispery tone so that she wouldn't hear any of it.

She looked down to the floor as she clasped her hands together on her lap, pursing her lips as she sniffed. "Am I still being punished?" she thought silently before turning to the window, seeing the night sky outside and looking at the stars. 

They seem to be mocking her and she hated it…

Too much guilt made her feel so uncomfortable that she wanted to kill herself. "But why am I still here?! I'm supposed to be dead!" she thought angrily as she clenched her fists.

Reeve took a peek at Lucrecia and noticed her current actions, but then he just turned back to Vincent with a weak smile on his face. "Well then… tomorrow, we will be conducting some tests on her…" he said.

Vincent frowned. "Tests? What for?" he demanded.

"She still has some of JENOVA in her. If I'm not mistaken, Hojo had injected JENOVA cells in her while she was pregnant with Sephiroth so that the old bastard would know the effects of JENOVA cells to an unborn child… besides, this could lead to safety, you know?" Reeve pointed out.

Vincent nodded mindlessly. "Just as long as this will not harm her." he said.

Reeve nodded. "Very well, Mister Valentine. Good night. I'll see you in the morning." He said before leaving.

Vincent closed the door and sighed heavily before walking back to Lucrecia. 

"What did he say?" she asked.

"Uh… Lucrecia, tomorrow, they will be conducting some tests on you…" he trailed off when he saw her eyes widen in shock, but before she could react further, he continued to speak as he sat down beside her and held her hands gently. "…no, they reassured to me that you will be safe. It's not the tests that Hojo did to you… it's different… it's also for your own good… for your own safety!" he explained with a gentle look on her face.

She shook her head in fear. "N…no! I'm… I'm afraid!" she said.

"But you're a scientist… you shouldn't be afraid," he pointed out.

She shook her head as more tears streamed down from her eyes. "Real scientists do not wish any harm to befall on others when they do experiments… they wish for the safety of humankind when they want to achieve something, not to put others in danger. I… I was… I was…" she could go on. There goes the feeling of guilt again. She hated it…

She dreaded it…

Especially when she was looking into Vincent's eyes and feeling that nasty guilt both at the same time.

His expression softened as he took her in his arms and embraced her tightly. "Shh… stop blaming yourself… the least you could do now is… is to change yourself for the future to come… and… stop brooding over the past…" he stammered, realizing that he should also take that advice seriously.

Sure, he admits to himself that he still reflected on the past and relived all the events in his mind for several times until he feels so down and so disappointed, wishing that he'd just drop dead…

"We're both victims, Lucrecia…" he whispered sadly.

She sniffed as she nodded, biting her lower lip as she leaned her head on his shoulder. 

Vincent smiled bitterly. "…but we have to be strong…" he told her.

She closed her eyes as more flashbacks returned to her. She opened them again after several minutes when she realized that Vincent was already laying her down on the bed.

He looked down at her. "I thought you had fallen asleep." He said.

She shook her head. "I… I was just reflecting…" she admitted sheepishly as he placed the blanket over her body up to her upper chest. "I'll just be in the couch over there," Vincent told her.

She sat up and grabbed his left claw before he could completely walk away from her. "No! S…stay here… with me… please… You're the only one that I know now… and I don't trust Rufus and the others… please don't leave me, not even move too far from me… I don't want to part from you, Vincent… please?" she pleaded with tear-stained eyes.

He didn't want to see her cry some more and feel that she is scared of something, so he just lay down beside her, embracing her gently. 

She sighed in contentment as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Vincent…" she whispered softly before she finally drifted off to sleep.

Vincent smiled discreetly before he fell asleep.

For the first time in several years, he didn't have nightmares…

-------------------------------- 


	3. Chapter Three

Before I Wake To Find You Gone

By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com) 

Disclaimer: We don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

            Tifa finally reached the 70th floor where Rufus's office was located, but she stopped when she saw Heidegger and Scarlet standing by the door of the office like gargoyles. She made a face. "Damn…" she thought angrily as she hid behind a tall pot of plant.

"Gyah… I can't believe we have that spiky-headed jerk on our side. What if he's just some kind of trap set by AVALANCHE?" Heidegger remarked.

"Kyah… I still can't understand why President Rufus would even talk to that boy like they're friends or something… kyah…" Scarlet replied.

"Gyah… and President Rufus assured us that Cloud isn't a spy or something… I even heard from their conversation that the rest of AVALANCHE doesn't even suspect a thing…" he said.

Scarlet blinked in perplexity. "Not even Vincent Valentine?" she asked.

Heidegger shook his head. "Nope. Not even that ex-Turk." He said.

"Hah… I tell you, that girl is very dangerous. Seeing her eyes reminded me so much of Sephiroth… it's scary… kyah…" Scarlet told him as she shuddered.

"Gyahahahahahahaha! Don't be ridiculous, Scarlet." He mocked.

"Kyah! You'd be scared too once you find out that she still got those nasty JENOVA cells in her and if she becomes pregnant again, it could result to another S-E-P-H-I-R-O-T-H! Kyah! Who knows, that new S-E-P-H-I-R-O-T-H could be more powerful than the first one! KYAH! That's the reason why we're going to do some nasty tests on her tomorrow morning." She explained.

Tifa's eyes grew wide in shock. "What the…" she remembered the woman with Vincent. She thought for a while. "Is she the one that they're talking about?" she thought silently, remembering that the woman had green eyes which also never failed to remind her of Sephiroth's.

"Gyah, why'd ya have to spell his name?! Just say it! It's SEPHIROTH! Gyahahahahaha! And who would impregnate that woman? Hojo's dead!" Heidegger snapped at Scarlet with a mocking smile on his face.

"Kyahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaha!!!!! You airhead! You just have a big fat brain full of air! Kyah… don't you know anything? Can't you notice anything? If possible, it'd be Vincent Valentine!" she snapped back, followed by another nasty cackle.

Tifa covered her mouth to prevent herself from gasping. The news was too shocking for her. For sure, she couldn't afford to have another Sephiroth in her lifetime… the first one was too much for her… it destroyed her life… and then there could be a possibility for another one?

"If Cloud knows that another Sephiroth could be destructive, he would prevent it from happening… I don't know about Rufus but… I hope that if Cloud really thinks that way, he should convince Rufus otherwise… or…" she bit her lower lip upon remembering how her father died. She clenched her fists.

"What are you two doing there? Eavesdropping?" 

All eyes turned to Reeve who was already on his way from the elevator to the two "gargoyles".

"Kyah…Well if it isn't the Urban Development dork! Where have you been? We've been waiting for you!" Scarlet snapped as she placed her hands on her hips.

Reeve kept a straight face despite the annoyance in his veins. "I went to check on the girl. Vincent's with her. I think he'll be guarding her because she had experienced some chest pains and fortunately, she can remember everything now. Maybe then by tomorrow we can start asking questions about Professor Hojo and Professor Gast." He explained.

"Oh goody! But I doubt if that girl will answer every single question." Heidegger said.

"Kyah… if I were President Rufus, I'd ask all the people with any single connection to those three scientists!" Scarlet said.

"Right, go ahead and talk to Sephiroth. Call the psychic from downtown and perform a ritual! Gyahahahahahahaha!" he teased.

Reeve rolled his eyes. "Sephiroth is dead. But based on the records that I've seen from Hojo's old lab, Gast has a daughter." He said.

"Gee… is she still alive?" Scarlet asked.

"Of course… her name is Aerith." He replied.

"Gyah… it's that Ancient…" Heidegger said with a disgusted face. "Damn it… do we have to go after her again?" he continued.

"We could just ask Mister Strife nicely…" Reeve said with a hopeful look on his face.

"Oh right… like he's gonna be risking the life of his girlfriend for this woman named Lucrecia, the biological mother of Sephiroth!" Scarlet snapped.

"We could try," Reeve said optimistically. 

"In your dreams." She argued.

Then, the P.A. system began to make a sound, followed by a voice, "All ShinRa executives, please proceed to the conference room immediately. Again, all ShinRa executives, please proceed to the conference room immediately. Thank you."

"Gyah! It's 10 pm and there's gonna be a meeting?!" Heidegger stomped his way to the elevator.

"Stop stomping, you'll cause an earthquake!" Scarlet teased.

Reeve laughed at what she said.

"Oh shut up," Heidegger snapped at the two.

Tifa waited until they boarded the elevator before she stepped out from her hiding place. 

She approached the office door, but as she did so, the door just burst open and there was Rufus and Cloud still talking to each other.

"Anything more before I go to those executives and discuss to them about what we have talked about?" Rufus asked him.

Cloud noticed a familiar girl standing before them from his peripheral vision, so he instantly turned to her. His eyes grew wide, so did Rufus when they saw her.

Tifa's mouth dropped open.

"What are you doing here?!" Cloud demanded with a frown on his face.

"May I ask you the same question?" Tifa demanded with an annoyed look.

Rufus blinked in awe, then turned back to Cloud. "You brought your girlfriend along with you here and you didn't tell me?" he asked.

"He isn't my boyfriend, for your information, Mister ShinRa." She snapped.

"That's _President Rufus_, mind you." Cloud reminded her.

"No, it's _Rufus_." Rufus said with a suave look on his face as he flipped his hair.

Cloud stared unbelievably at Rufus but he still managed to keep a straight face, then back to Tifa, who was staring back at Rufus with her crimson eyes that widened in disbelief upon hearing that. He cleared his throat and crossed his arms. "Well then, I guess I'd better go back to Sector 7. I'll see you in the morning, Tifa," he said with a stifled impish grin before starting to walk away.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" Tifa grabbed his arm to stop him. "And just what did you mean by that? You still owe me an explanation for everything… and what is it with you talking to Rufus and I just saw Vincent downstairs with a girl whose got Sephiroth's eyes! What is going on here?" she demanded angrily.

Cloud pulled his arm away from her grasp. "Well, you also owe me an explanation on why the hell did you follow me here… and how the hell did you manage to enter and get past all the security people… and by the way, if we tell you what it is, will you promise not to tell anybody else? Most especially Vincent?" he asked.

Tifa raised an eyebrow, remembering what she had heard from Heidegger, Reeve and Scarlet moments ago. "So this has got something to do with Vincent and that girl after all…" she thought silently. She just shrugged. "Why? Is this very confidential? Will it ruin people?" she asked, her eyes giving them hints that she already knows something about everything.

Rufus raised his eyebrows at her and then turned to Cloud as he flipped his hair. "Your friend here is very smart, you know? I could use more people like her here in my company," he said.

Cloud stopped himself from smiling. "Go ahead," he told him with a wink.

Tifa clenched her fists. "Will you stop it with those jokes, Cloud?" she asked.

Rufus turned back to her and flipped his hair again. "Why don't you and Cloud come with me to the meeting downstairs in the conference room so that you will know everything?" he asked.

"Tifa will go with you. I'll leave now." Cloud said.

"What?!" Tifa exclaimed.

Rufus flipped his hair again. "You don't look excited about the idea," he told Tifa suavely.

She smiled weakly at him. "Of course… who'd feel excited if your friend will leave you in the hands of your enemy?" she thought silently, never really wishing to reveal her real thoughts, so she just raised her hand to Cloud to stop him from leaving. "Wait! Don't leave me here!" she said.

"I wanna go to sleep!" he said.

"You can sleep later but never ever leave me alone with Rufus… especially if Scarlet's gonna be there!" she said with a worried look on her voice.

"It's not like she'll slap your face in front of Rufus," Cloud told her.

"Well, that girl's a… a bitch… she can do anything she pleases…" she reasoned.

"I'd have to agree with that… but anyway, I prefer that you stay with Tifa in the conference room, Cloud." Rufus told him.

Cloud shrugged. "Fine." He said with a slight smile as Rufus led the way to the elevators.

Upon reaching the conference room, all the executives were in awe to see Tifa… most especially Scarlet.

"What the… what is she doing here?!" Scarlet demanded as she got up and pointed an accusing finger at Tifa.

Tifa frowned at her.

Rufus narrowed his eyes at Scarlet and pointed an accusing finger at her. "Take your seat and shut your mouth! The meeting is now in session!" he snapped impatiently as he went to his seat and sat down.

Cloud and Tifa sat down away from Scarlet, near Reeve.

Reeve smiled kindly at the two before turning to Rufus. "President Rufus, I have talked to Mister Valentine moments ago and he revealed that Lucrecia had experienced some chest pains… but she remembers everything already." He announced.

Rufus blinked. "That's perfect. Tomorrow, we'll start asking our questions and take some blood samples…" he trailed off when Heidegger spoke up, "President Rufus, I doubt if Lucrecia will answer all of our questions about everything we want to know about Hojo, the JENOVA project and Gast… maybe then we could also ask Mister Valentine and Gast's daughter, Aerith," 

Cloud frowned slightly at the mention of Aerith's name. "Aerith is out of the question!" he snapped.

"Gyah! Says you! If you want the safety of this Planet, you'd cooperate with us!" Heidegger snapped back.

"Shut up!" Rufus snapped.

"Gyah…" Heidegger crossed his arms and looked away from Cloud.

"What would Aerith know anyway? She was still a baby when her father died!" Rufus told them.

"He's right… we'll just have to trust Vincent and Lucrecia," Reeve said.

Rufus sighed as he looked at the clipboard prepared in front of him on the table. "Fine… so we'll start by taking them to the lab downstairs… this is what we'll do. Scarlet and Reeve, you talk to Vincent and ask him questions… and you, Heidegger, you'll work with Reno and Elena in taking blood samples from Lucrecia and then examining it… you can also ask questions from her in the process… Find out from the blood samples if she still has some traces of JENOVA… if there's none, then we'll let her go… if there's still some… or more… well," he gazed at all of them carefully. "We'll have to proceed to complicated measures…" he said.

"Like what?" Scarlet asked.

"Separate her from Vincent." Cloud said.

Everyone was silent.

"Why?" Tifa asked.

"He cannot be with her… I know this sounds lame… but if he impregnates her, it'd be possible that there's gonna be another…" he explained.

"…Sephiroth," Rufus continued with a deep frown on his face.

"Kyah… so all of us are really thinking of the same thing…" Scarlet said, feeling so relieved.

"C'mon, it's not like they'll have sex or anything?!" Heidegger argued.

"Vincent loves that girl. Eventually, if that keeps up, they might decide to get hitched and start a family. Besides, isn't it questionable that that girl is still alive while she's supposed to be dead already?" Cloud asked.

Everyone fell silent.

"But… what will become of Vincent? He will definitely get so disappointed… and broken-hearted…" Tifa stated flatly with a sad look on her face.

"…again…" Cloud realized silently.

Rufus was quiet.

Cloud shook his head and just stood up and left the room.

Tifa remained seated, staring at Rufus, waiting for him to speak up about the matter.

But he just sighed heavily after ten minutes of complete silence. "Dismissed," he told them.

Tifa's eyes grew wide in awe as all the executives got up and left the room immediately.

Rufus remained seated on his chair, just staring at the clipboard and the things written on the paper attached to it.

She turned her gaze to him, waiting for him to say something. "And where the hell did Cloud go?" she thought silently, sensing that he already left her there.

Rufus licked his lips and flipped his hair. "Lucrecia was holding Vincent's picture when we found her in the Junon Harbor. We still don't know how she got there… probably we'll know tomorrow. It's really very disturbing on why she's still here… and she hasn't even aged. I've seen her old records from way back when… she still looks the same. The reason why I'm doing this is because we all think that the presence of this woman is very questionable… and dangerous." He said.

She didn't move.

He looked at her and smiled slightly. "I guess your friend left you here," he said before standing up and went to the door, but before he stepped out of the room, he turned back to Tifa. "Let's go, I'll take you back to your house," he said.

She blinked in disbelief.

"C'mon, it's not like I'll eat you or something?" he said with a wink.

She smiled shyly as she got up from her seat and joined Rufus.


	4. Chapter Four

Before I Wake To Find You Gone

By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com) 

Disclaimer: We don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

            Cloud finally arrived home and Aerith was waiting for him. She was seated by the front porch and she had this worried look on her face. "Oh Cloud," she said as she got up and ran to him, embracing him.

He smiled gently as he embraced her back. "You're still up? It's midnight! You should be asleep," he told her with a concerned tone.

She shook her head as she withdrew from him, opening the door so that they could go inside. "I got so worried about you. You just left without telling us where you're going. Are you okay?" she asked as they got inside the house.

"Yes, I'm okay… let's go to sleep," he said as he closed the door and led the way upstairs.

Aerith was silently thinking, "Where's Tifa?" as she examined the tired look on Cloud's face.

Cloud was silently thinking, "I can't lie to Aerith… I have to tell her the truth…" as he turned to face her once they reached their bedroom. "I have to tell you something," he began with a serious look on his face as she shut the door.

She blinked. "Wh…what is it?" she asked.

"It's about… where I really went…" he replied with a troubled look on his face.

She looked down to the floor as she went to the bed and sat down quietly. When Cloud didn't speak up, she decided to look back at him.

That's when he started to speak, "Early this evening, I received a call from Rufus ShinRa. I went to the ShinRa HQ…" he sighed. "The truth is, I'm helping him out." He declared.

Her eyes grew wide. "Helping him?" she asked.

"Please don't tell anyone else, most especially Vincent. This is supposed to be confidential… but I'm telling you because I know I could trust you and I cannot lie to you," he said with a weak smile on his face as he sat down beside her.

She bit her lower lip as she looked away, turning to the window and looking outside, seeing the stars and the moon. 

When she did not reply, he just began to remove his boots, his gloves and his left shoulder-guard; got up and placed everything on the dresser.

Aerith smiled at the moon. "This is about Lucrecia, right?" she asked.

He froze and turned to her. "How did you know?" he asked.

She faced him again. "The voices told me. She is supposed to be dead, right? But she is here… alive. There is a reason and the voices told me what it is…" she admitted.

Cloud blinked in awe as he removed his belt, still keeping his gaze on her. 

She chuckled lightly as she got up and started to remove her boots and unbraided her hair. "C'mon, Cloud. You know who I am," she said with a wink.

He smiled at her.

"Thank you for trusting me, Cloud. I won't tell Vincent and the others…" she told him reassuringly.

He was about to say something more but he stopped when he heard the sound of a vehicle arriving and then stopping, then after a few minutes, it moved again.

Cloud raised an eyebrow as he smiled impishly.

Aerith was already removing her pink denim jacket when they heard someone knocking on the front door downstairs. "Who could that be?" she asked aloud.

"Oh, and did I mention that Tifa followed me?" Cloud added.

Aerith blnked and just ran downstairs to get the door.

She opened the door and was surprised to see Tifa standing there, her arms crossed across her chest with a tired and glum look on her face.

"Tifa!" Aerith exclaimed.

"Is Cloud home already?" Tifa asked as she stepped inside.

Aerith shut the door and locked it. "Yes, he is. H…how did you get home?" she asked.

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "I'd rather not talk about it…" she said with a slight blush on her face as she headed upstairs, trying to stop herself from smiling.

As she and Aerith climbed up the stairs, they stopped when they saw Cloud standing on their way. "Hello, Tifa. Did your date give you a good night kiss?" he asked with a teasing smile on his face.

"It's just so unlikely of you to be teasing me, Cloud," she said with a sarcastic smile on her face.

Aerith blinked curiously and stared unbelievably at Tifa. "You… you went on a date?" she asked.

"I did not… he just took me back here because Cloud left me alone with him." Tifa said, feeling so embarrassed about the situation. She just proceeded and pushed Cloud out of her way and ran immediately to her room.

Aerith approached Cloud. "Who's the _him_?" she asked.

"Only the richest guy in the Planet," Cloud said with a wink as she got Aerith's hand and led the way back to their bedroom.

*** 

            Rufus entered the Hojo's old underground laboratory at around 4:00 am. He couldn't sleep so he just decided to do some research in the lab.

"I have to find out something very important if I want to assure everyone of safety… I have to change things… I am not following old man's footsteps…" he thought as he opened all the confidential files from the PC.

"I've fixed all sectors, I've stopped all the Mako reactors, developed new ways of providing electricity and power to the whole of Midgar… and now this…" he thought silently as he stared at the full data of Sephiroth.

His eyes scanned over the destructible pieces of paper with some of the company's most valuable information scribbled on them. 

Name: Sephiroth Specimen # 006600666 

Rufus raised an eyebrow at this. "They've labeled Sephiroth as a specimen? How disgusting," he mumbled as he proceeded to reading the sheet of paper 

_Biological parents are Professors Hojo and Lucrecia; both working in ShinRa Electric Power Company… Specimen is result of the JENOVA experiment--_

His frown deepened as he stared at the pictures of a growing Sephiroth. "Such an innocent child… but he was ruined…" he thought.

He spent 15 more minutes reading the rest of the files about Sephiroth, and then proceeded to the next file labeled "Vincent Valentine"

He spent almost an hour absorbing all the information about Vincent before proceeding to Lucrecia.

"JENOVA…" the name keeps on repeating on his head.

He sat down on the tall stool and continued to read, not noticing the time passing by.

*** 

            Reeve, Scarlet, Rude, Reno and Elena led the way to the underground Laboratory.

"It's this way," Elena said.

"We know," Vincent and Lucrecia both responded in unison.

Elena giggled sheepishly. "Heehee! I'm sorry! I forgot that you guys used to work here," she said.

"It's okay, Miss Elena," Lucrecia said with a gentle smile on her face.

"Okay… I suppose everything you need is right here because you were the last persons to touch this place," Reeve said as they walked along the hallway. 

"Kyah… no, actually, Sephiroth did some stuff in there, too. He read those JENOVA notes, remember? That's how he went craz…" Scarlet started, but stopped when she remembered that Lucrecia didn't need to know those information…

Lucrecia stared unbelievably at Scarlet. "Wh…what?" she asked.

"Uh-oh…" Vincent thought.

Reeve flashed Scarlet a "Nice goin'" look.

Rude shook his head in disbelief as he proceeded to walk with Reno and Elena, leaving the others behind because Lucrecia stopped walking and stared unbelievably at Scarlet.

"Are you saying that… my son went crazy?" Lucrecia demanded.

"Kyah… you're his mother and you do not know anything?" Scarlet snapped.

"I… I…" Lucrecia stammered, turning to Vincent with a confused look on her face.

Vincent frowned and pulled Lucrecia away from Scarlet. "Stop it." He snapped at the blonde woman before facing Lucrecia with a gentle look on his face. "We will explain everything to you but you have to promise me that you'll stay calm and be reasonable, okay?" he asked.

She was already trembling but she tried to stop herself from breaking down. She bit her lower lip as she nodded her head eagerly with a weak smile on her face. "You'll be there?" she asked.

"Of course, Lucrecia… of course. I promise you," Vincent said reassuringly.

"Hah… that's so sweet. Let's hurry up. We'd better get her blood sample as soon as possible." Scarlet snapped impatiently as she went ahead.

Reeve shook his head in disbelief as he approached Vincent and Lucrecia with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm so sorry about Scarlet. She's just very cranky… I hope you get used to it." He said.

Lucrecia nodded uneasily. "O… okay," she said.

Vincent smiled at Reeve before proceeding to walk with Lucrecia.

Upon entering the laboratory, they were all surprised to see Rufus seated and still reading the files, this time, from the computer.

"President Rufus," Reeve began.

Rufus turned to them with a frown on his face. 

"You're here early?" Reeve asked.

"I've been here ever since dawn." Rufus said, trying to keep a straight face, but he could not hide the sleepy expression in his eyes. "You may start now with the tests." He commanded before turning back to the computer monitor.

"Follow me here, Miss Lucrecia," Reeve told her as he went ahead.

Vincent gently nudged Lucrecia to follow Reeve, but she held on to him tightly. He sighed heavily with a silly smile on his face before finally agreeing to just go with Lucrecia.

***

"Ow…" Lucrecia winced as Reeve pulled out the needle.

"Kyah… I would assume that you're already used to those needles since maybe Hojo did so many tests with you before," Scarlet said mockingly.

"Shut up, Scarlet." Reeve snapped impatiently.

"Don't you think those blood samples are enough already? That's the 15th needle," Vincent said.

"We're not gonna suck up all of her blood." Scarlet told him.

Lucrecia looked up at the ceiling and around the room. "This place hasn't changed at all…" she realized.

Vincent was having the same thoughts, but he just tried to shrug it off when Reno and Elena approached him. "We'd like to do some inspections, Mister Valentine," Reno said with a sly smile.

Vincent saw that the two Turks were holding some wrenches and some other gadgets for metal. He raised his eyebrow. "Wh…what are you going to do?" he asked nervously with a weak smile on his face.

"Just lie down here," Elena said, referring to the operating table.

"Yes, but why is this necessary?" Vincent asked as he uneasily sat down on the said operating table. 

"Oh, you know. You might have a lot to do with this thing," Reno said as he forcefully removed Vincent's cape and black top before pushing Vincent down on the operating table, forcing him to lie down.

Vincent froze.

Lucrecia observed quietly as Reno and Elena began to take Vincent's blood pressure, take blood samples, attach some wires onto his chest and more stuff… She turned back to Reeve and Scarlet who were already beginning to inspect her blood with the microscope that Hojo used to use for himself.

"Is this really necessary?" Vincent asked the two Turks again.

"Yes, it is. Now, how old are you?" Elena asked.

"Uh… can't I just keep it a secret?" he asked.

Reno shrugged and turned to Lucrecia. "Hey, missy, how old was Vinny when he proposed to you?" he asked with a teasing look on his face.

She frowned at him. "What?" she asked.

"Fine! I'm 57 now! Leave her alone!" Vincent snapped with a slight blush.

"Relax, Mister Valentine, we're trying to monitor your heart. Don't get excited." Elena said as he patted his shoulder.

"…" Vincent just stared up at the ceiling. He had to admit, the atmosphere of the room was really cold… very cold… and considering the fact that he was topless.

"Uh… I'm getting cold here," he announced.

No reaction.

"Never mind…" he thought frustratingly.

Lucrecia slowly approached the laboratory table where Reeve and Scarlet were inspecting her blood. She had seen that Reeve had gotten her DNA from it too. She saw him compare it with another DNA… which is of Sephiroth's.

"No doubt, she's his mother…" he murmured to Scarlet.

"Kyah…" she uttered under her breath.

"Why?" he asked.

"I don't know how to do this… determining the blood type and all the others… and knowing if there's still some JENOVA in it…" she replied.

Lucrecia bit her lip before speaking up, surprising the two since they didn't know that she was watching them from behind. "Maybe I can help? I know how Hojo did those things," she said.

The two stared unbelievably at her. "O…okay…" Scarlet said as she stepped aside to let Lucrecia inspect the microscope.

Lucrecia began to take notes and out of the blue, she just asked, "What will you do to me if you find out that JENOVA is still present in my bloodstream?"

Reeve and Scarlet exchanged confused glances.

Vincent heard the question but he just kept quiet.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked with a voice that seemed to falter.

"No, we're not going to kill you." Reeve said immediately.

Lucrecia was silent as she continued to work. Something was telling her that she is not going to die, but they are going to do something to her that would be equivalent to death… yet she didn't know what it is…

Rufus, who was listening to every word that every person in the room uttered, approached them. "If we do find out that JENOVA is still alive in you," he began. Reeve, Scarlet and Lucrecia turned to him curiously. "Then we'll just get rid of her. Simple as that, right?" he said simply.

The three of them stared at him in disbelief. "Kyah… I think that's easier said than done, sir…" Scarlet said after awhile. 

"Of course, Scarlet. Almost everything in this world is easier said than done," Rufus said. "Of course, I trust that everybody working on this would come up with something. I'd hate to be found wrong…" 

Everybody else had nothing to say to that. Vincent pondered on Rufus' words. "Then we'll get rid of her. Simple as that, right?" He frowned. Nothing is that simple. Who knows, that simple thing might cause him to lose Lucrecia once more. As for Lucrecia… she was just stunned at this man's words. She was still wondering on why a stranger like him would be willing to do so much for her and Vincent… 

"All right, I guess everything you need to do after this is clear," Rufus said, going back to reading those files waiting on the computer. 

Vincent watched as Elena scribbled down notes on his physical conditions and all that stuff and as Reno read over her shoulder. 

"Okay… Mister Valentine, I think we're done," Elena said as she put down the clipboard and began to remove the wires attached all over him. Reno, on the other hand, threw back Vincent's cape and shirt to him. "Here, man. Feel decent again," he said with an annoying smile.

Lucrecia frowned as she turned to Scarlet. "Do you have samples of JENOVA cells?" she asked.

Scarlet handed her a test tube from one of the old cabinets. "That's Sephiroth's. You can compare it with yours if you want," she said with a sneer.

Lucrecia couldn't understand why such a woman could be so rude. She just shrugged it off and proceeded to work. After a few minutes, the results shocked her and she almost dropped Sephiroth's blood samples on the floor as she stared at the microscope.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, then Vincent came running to her, with Reno, Elena and Reeve close behind him. "Lucrecia! What's wrong?" 

Lucrecia looked up at them, the shock in her eyes not leaving. "S-sephiroth…" she whispered. 

"What the hell's goin' on, anyway?" Reno drawled. 

Vincent wanted to find out for himself. He made his way towards the microscope and looked at the lens. 

_Notable green glow on the RBC. There seems to be an otherworldly power emanating from the said RBCs. Cells cannot be annihilated by any means. Also immune to viruses_.

Vincent remembered those notes Hojo always wrote down during those experiments. Then, he understood. "So… there was more of JENOVA that we didn't finish of," he thought to himself. 

"What is going on?" Rufus asked as he approached them with an impatient look on his face. 

Lucrecia felt her heart aching again. She clutched her chest tightly as she winced uncomfortably in pain. "I…" she stammered as she gasp. Her eyes reflected too much pain as she leaned on to Vincent, letting him embrace her. "Vin… Vincent… it hurts…" she said before she closed her eyes and finally fainted, but before she could fall completely to the ground, Vincent caught her in his arms. "Lucrecia," he said in panic.

Rufus stared at them coldly before proceeding to the microscope and viewed the results. Comparing it with Hojo's files which he had read and absorbed in his memory, his frown deepened as he clenched his fists. "The JENOVA inside her won't let her die…" he realized. Observing Lucrecia, he thought, "Maybe she has some heart ailment or something… but she survives because of JENOVA." He looked at Vincent before saying, "Reeve, get me Cloud Strife." He said.

Vincent's eyes grew wide. "What? What's with Cloud?" he asked in surprise.

Rufus ignored him and just said, "Take her back to her room. She needs to rest. Inform me once she's awake,"

Vincent fell silent as he looked down at Lucrecia whose head was resting on his shoulder. "What does Rufus want? Are they just using us for something?" he thought. As he carried Lucrecia back to her room, he was thinking, "And what is Cloud's role in this situation? Don't tell me he's working with Rufus?" 

He stared at Lucrecia for a long time after he placed her on the bed and sighed heavily. "Are you okay, Lucrecia?" he whispered with a sad look on his face as he gently caressed her cheek with the back of his right hand.

*** 


	5. Chapter Five

Before I Wake To Find You Gone 

By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com) 

**Disclaimer**: We don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…

**General Quistis's Note**: THE SETTING IS LIKE AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, ISN'T IT OBVIOUS?!? I know that Rufus is dead and Aerith is dead. I just resurrected them here… that's why I said, NEO-SHINRA. This is how I depict Neo-ShinRa also in all my other fics: everyone who is supposed to be dead is alive for a purpose. ¡¿Intiendes!? Oh and forgive the out-of-character tendencies because it is part of the story! And yes, Vincent _loves_ Lucrecia very much; it's **very, very** obvious even in the game itself! Didn't you notice his cheesy lines about Lucrecia?! @o@ *pants* I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed at some of the people because they fail to understand things and they criticize it wrongly immediately! That's just so wrong!

Anyway, thanks to my friend Rinoa, I found out the title of the song and the artists behind it. The title of the song is "One More Time" and it's found in Kenny G.'s album, _Paradise_. Chanté Moore sang the song. The line "_Before I wake to find you gone"_ is located in the chorus. 

I still cannot understand why people cannot appreciate Vincent+Lucrecia fics….. I've seen the others and look at the reviews! Either none or just one! I feel so disappointed… ;_; Anyway, in case you still have some care in your hearts (even a little) and you could take not hating this story for a little while, **_please, please, please! Review!!!!! ;_;_**

Anyway, back to the story…..

----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

            "Will somebody get the door?!?" Tifa shouted from the kitchen.

No answer. All she could hear was the television set's noise.

"I'll just get it," Aerith presented.

"No, I'll get it. Just continue with the cooking," Tifa said as she wiped her hands and removed her apron, putting it on the dining table and rushing to the door. She frowned when she saw the others just seated in front of the television watching the Saturday morning cartoons. "This is outrageous!" she thought silently before she opened the door, gasping upon seeing Reeve.

The others heard her gasp but she closed the door again.

"Something wrong, Teef?" Barret asked.

Tifa froze, remembering that she must not let Barret and the others know… she smiled cheerfully at Barret. "It's just some kid playing a prank… you know, he wore this scary mask and I got surprised? Heehee!" she fibbed.

Barret stared unbelievably at her. "I see…" he said before turning back to the TV.

Cloud was staring at Tifa. She widened her eyes at him, signaling him that there's someone outside to see him.

Cloud yawned and stretched before standing up. "I'll just go outside for some fresh air," he announced to the others as he stepped aside and went to the door. 

He grabbed Tifa's hand and dragged her outside with him. He shut the door behind them and faced Reeve. "What is it?" he asked as Tifa moved away from him with a perplexed look on her face.

"President Rufus is asking for you. It's about the results of Lucrecia's tests…" Reeve replied.

"How did it go?" Tifa asked.

"I cannot interpret the results myself… only President Rufus, Lucrecia and Vincent knows how to interpret them because they know all the information… I'd prefer that you two just come with me," he replied.

"Rufus knows? Did he interrogate them already?" Cloud asked.

"Not so… he just read their files." Reeve said before going to the black limo. "Let's go," he said.

Cloud frowned then turned to Tifa. "Go ahead, I'll just go and get Aerith," he said.

Tifa blinked. "What? What for?" she asked.

"She knows. I've told her. Maybe she can understand this situation now." He said before he got inside.

Tifa hesitated for a while before she went inside the limo.

Cloud entered the house and just went straight to the kitchen. "Aerith," he called.

She stopped slicing the carrots. "Yes?" she asked before turning to him.

He signaled for her to come with him.

She raised an eyebrow as she removed her apron and went to him. "Where?" she whispered.

"ShinRa," he replied softly.

Aerith eyed the others whose eyes were still glued to the television. She saw Cloud walk ahead of her so that the others wouldn't suspect a thing. After he exited, she followed, but Yuffie called her. "Hey, where are you going?"

Aerith jerked and stopped, facing Yuffie with a sweet smile on her face. "I'm going out… with Cloud. Heehee! We're going to church together!" she said.

"Church? But it's only Saturday!" Yuffie said.

"Uhm… we're going to inquire about… weddings?" Aerith said uneasily.

Cloud heard her from outside and he blushed. Tifa heard it too and she started to giggle while pointing at Cloud. "Can I be the maid of honor?" she asked.

He made a face.

"You mean you finally decided to tie the knot with him?" Barret asked happily.

"What the @#$%!? After so many months of bein' together you two are gonna get @#$%^%$ hitched?! Man! That's somethin' new!" Cid said excitedly.

"Bye!" Aerith ran out of the house, leaving all of them perplexed.

Cloud and Aerith rushed to the limo and got inside. As soon as the three were settled inside, Reeve told the chauffer to go.

The moment the vehicle started to move, Aerith spoke up, "You're not going to do some tests on me, are you?"

All of them looked at her unbelievably. "Of course not, Aerith. Besides, I wouldn't let them," Cloud assured with a gentle smile on his face.

"Miss Gainsborough knows the situation?" Reeve asked.

"I told her everything. I couldn't lie to her…" Cloud just thought silently, not wishing to reveal his real thoughts.

"Yes, Cloud told me everything… even the voices told me." Aerith explained to Reeve.

Reeve blinked. "Voices?" he asked.

"You know that she's half-Ancient…" Cloud pointed out.

Reeve nodded. "Sorry… I completely forgot." He said with a sheepish smile.

As soon as they arrived in ShinRa, they were led straight to Rufus's office on the 70th floor.

Rufus was reading the files of Vincent, Lucrecia and Gast when they came in.

He looked up at them with a tired look on his face. "Oh, Good Morning," he greeted sleepily.

Tifa and Aerith were quite surprised because Rufus greeted them.

"Good Morning," Tifa said with a slight smile.

Cloud and Aerith stifled smiles as they approached Rufus.

Rufus sighed as he got up from his seat and faced Cloud.

"So, what happened?" Cloud asked.

Rufus was silent for a while before turning his gaze to the floor. "The amount of JENOVA cells that we found in her bloodstream are bigger in number than the amount that Sephiroth had." He explained, getting straight to the point.

Silence.

"So what are you going to do then?" Cloud asked.

"Get it out of her." Rufus said.

Silence.

"Why not just let her die?" Cloud asked.

Rufus looked at them with a serious look on his face. "I'm not like old man," he said with a hard tone which made Tifa shiver.

They understood.

With that, Rufus approached them as he shoved his hands inside his trouser pockets. "I have read this method to get rid of everything in her bloodstream. I read it from Gast's old notes… but with her condition right now, it could kill her." he said.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with her? Is she sick?" Tifa asked.

"Something to do with her heart… but she wouldn't die because of JENOVA." He explained. "So, even if she survives this, it's going to be too painful."

"What now?" Aerith asked.

"Rufus, don't you think we should tell Vincent the truth?" Tifa asked.

Rufus turned to her. "I'm gonna be needing your help with that," he said. 

Cloud, Aerith and Tifa looked at each other worriedly. "But… I'm not sure if we could do that to Vincent," Tifa said slowly.

Rufus nodded. "I understand. But…" he stopped when Aerith stepped forward.

"Rufus, we're… we're alive, remember?" she asked.

He stared at her.

"Everything happens for a reason… you're here again for a reason… I'm here again for a reason… and Lucrecia is here for a reason…" she started to explain.

"What about Sephiroth? And Tseng? And old man?" he challenged.

"Maybe…maybe Sephiroth's chance will be given in another lifetime or… he has fulfilled his purpose; his reason for living… and Tseng could be…just contented with his current state right now. As for your father, I don't know… he could be in hell or somewhere else, experiencing eternal damnation without anymore choices and chances to live life again to become useful." She said with a serious look on her face.

Rufus smiled smugly at her. "And what is my reason for being here while I'm supposed to be dead?" he asked.

Aerith looked up at the ceiling as if listening to someone speaking up there. After a few seconds, she turned to Rufus again with a sweet smile on her face. "To be a good leader for your people here in Midgar. You've done a lot of good things ever since you came back here. You want to help them because you are not your father." She replied.

"And you?" he asked.

Aerith blinked and turned to Cloud with a smile on her face before turning back to Rufus. "I need not tell you, Rufus," she explained.

Rufus chuckled lightly and turned away from all of them. "What about Lucrecia?" he asked.

Silence.

No one really knew how to answer that.

"Rufus," Tifa began.

Rufus turned to her with a curious expression on his face.

"I'm certain that for you to find out what your purpose in life is, you have to keep on living. Maybe that's what will happen to her." she explained with a reassuring smile on her face.

He smirked at her before approaching her and turning to the others as he spoke, "Maybe you would like to meet her?" he asked.

"Explain to us first about Gast's method." Cloud said with a serious look on his face.

"We'll have to drain her blood but at the same time transfuse some Type O into her system. The problem is, the blood to be transfused is not just any Type O blood… it's supposed to be the blood of an Ancient." He said.

Aerith looked down. "I'm Type O… and…" she thought silently, but she stopped when she heard Cloud react to Rufus's words. "You can't just use Aerith." He snapped.

"Besides, it's dangerous!" Tifa said.

"Oh for crying out loud, of course I know it's dangerous!" Rufus snapped back. 

"Why the blood of an Ancient? What's wrong with normal blood?!" Cloud asked in frustration. 

Rufus grunted before answering. "Well, all those JENOVA in Lucrecia's bloodstream mutated her circulatory system… normal human blood probably would deteriorate her systems… well, according to Gast's  research, untainted Cetra blood is the only solution to this…" and turned to Aerith with a smug look on his face. "And so maybe his daughter could help Miss Lucrecia." He said.

Cloud shook his head. "I won't let Aerith do that!" he snapped.

"Why not?" Rufus asked.

"It's dangerous! She could die!" Cloud said.

"Well then tell that to Vincent," Tifa began.

Cloud stared unbelievably at her. "Whose side are you on anyway?" he asked.

"For sure, Vincent wants Lucrecia to be safe. He would want all the JENOVA out of her because it's making her so miserable. Look, I know that Aerith would be risking her life at this project, and if there's another way to help Lucrecia, I'm all for it. But I don't think there is…" Tifa replied sadly. 

Aerith was looking down on the floor the whole time, thinking things through. After a while, she finally spoke up. "If this is the only way to help them… then, I'll have to accept your proposal, Rufus… besides, if it's my father's method, I trust that it is… it is safe…" she looked up at Rufus with a slight smile on her face.

Rufus frowned at her. "Then we have to tell Vincent and Lucrecia immediately." He said.

*** 

            Lucrecia was staring up at the ceiling. "Vincent," she said.

"Hmm?" he asked, turning to her with a sad look on his face, as he remained seated beside her on the bed.

She had this blank look on her face. "I want to die…" she said.

He frowned. "Stop saying that!" he said as he took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. "Why would you even want to die?" he asked.

"I'm so tired of being here… everything is gone. My life is gone because of JENOVA, my son is dead… everything… I find no purpose in living here anymore…" she said miserably.

Vincent was silent, not knowing how to say to her his exact thoughts. "What about me?" he thought.

He didn't really want to think about it but his conscience kept on nagging him, "What the hell; just leave her! She doesn't give a damn about you anyway even from the start! She's just a selfish bitch! If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be the monster that you are today!" 

"But I love her…" he thought silently with a sad look on his face. The thought about losing her again made him cringe.

"Everything is gone except for you," she said.

He looked down at her, surprised at what she said.

"That's why I don't want you to leave me… because you're the only one I have left." She told him with a sad look on her face.

Vincent examined the look in her eyes. Fear. He was so sick of that. "Then for my sake, don't die," he wanted to say out loud, but all he could do was stare at her with a disappointed look before embracing her tightly.

Lucrecia leaned her head against his shoulder. "What happened to Sephiroth?" she asked.

Dreaded question.

Vincent hesitated for a while but he remembered his promise to her that he would tell her everything. So he began…

*** 

            "So what's the result of the test?" Heidegger asked his colleagues during lunch.

"That woman's got a whole lotta JENOVA cells in her system. She's worse than Sephiroth!" Reno remarked.

"Gyah! That's horrible! So what's the President gonna do about it?" Heidegger asked.

"Kyah… if I were Rufus, I'd just kill the girl!" Scarlet said with a mean smile on her face.

"Aw, don't say that, Scarlet! She's just an innocent girl!" Elena snapped.

"Kyah! You call that innocent?! And what's the catch with her? She fell in-love with Hojo?! KYAH!" Scarlet said.

Reeve shook his head. "Uh… Scarlet, I don't think she ever was in-love with Hojo… What woman in her right mind would be at least infatuated with that slimy old scientist?"

"Kyah~… who said she was in her right mind? That woman's clearly insane…" Scarlet retorted. 

"Hmm… I think Scarlet's jealous again… Hahahah…" Reno said, leaning back on his chair with a smug look on his face. 

"Kyah!! Shut up, red! I wasn't talking to you!" 

"Then cut it out with the back-biting, Scarlet!" Elena said. 

Scarlet was about to say something else, but she was interrupted when Reno gave out a disgusting belch. She frowned at him. "Kyah! You are so disgusting!" she just snapped before leaving the room.

*** 

            Lucrecia did not cry anymore. She was tired. "I never even got the chance to hold him…" she told Vincent.

He bowed down his head. "I know…" he said gently.

She smiled sadly. "If I could just have another child like Sephiroth… I'll really protect him and take care of him very well… and I'll never let him grow up to believing all those lies that Hojo had told him." She looked up at Vincent. "If you were Sephiroth's father, I'm sure he'd grow up to be very… very…" she didn't finish the sentence anymore; she was too tired. She was about to close her eyes but she opened them wide again when the door suddenly burst open, surprising her.

The two looked up at Rufus, Cloud, Aerith and Tifa who just came in.

"Wh…what the," Lucrecia began.

Vincent stared unbelievably at Cloud, Aerith and Tifa. "What are you…doing here?" he asked.

"Vincent, we need to tell you something," Cloud began…

*** 

*** 

*** 


	6. Chapter Six

Before I Wake To Find You Gone 

By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com) 

**Disclaimer**: We don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…

-----------------------------------------------------

            Vincent looked up at the stars, remembering what Rufus and Cloud had explained to him. 

"She might die… I don't want to lose her again…" he thought silently. It had been three weeks but the transfusion hasn't started yet.

They need to prepare Aerith first.

"Vincent?" 

He turned and saw the owner of the voice: Lucrecia. "Lucrecia… it's late. You're not supposed to be up, you know?" 

Lucrecia shrugged. "I felt like waking up… what are you doing up?" she asked. 

He moved over a bit so she could have room to look out the window, too. "Just watching the stars. I've just realized that I never give myself time to look at them…" 

Lucrecia sat beside him. "Yes… you're right…" she said before looking up at the stars herself. There were so many of them… like they say, a myriad, so one can't really tell the difference. But one star caught Lucrecia's eye, and the instant she was aware of it, it blinked out of existence. 

Then, more silence. 

Lucrecia bit her lower lip when she remembered her previous thoughts about everything that's going on… "Vincent? Is it all right if I tell you something?" she asked. 

Vincent looked at her curiously. "Of course… you could tell me anything…" 

"But don't say anything, all right? I just want you to listen…" 

Vincent nodded, and Lucrecia took a deep breath before starting. "I don't think this blood transfusion project is a good idea… I don't want Aerith to risk her life just for this… in fact, I don't even think that it's going to be effective…"

Vincent frowned and embraced her. "Lucrecia," he began.

"Yes, Vincent?" she asked, looking up at her.

"Do you want to continue with this?" he asked.

She frowned and shook her head. "I don't want to because it's going to be very dangerous, not only for me but also for Aerith." She said. "I don't want to make the same mistake ever again… I've placed my own life in danger before when I agreed to be a test subject for Hojo… and I also placed Sephiroth's life in danger by doing so… I don't want to endanger Aerith's life…" she continued with a trembling voice.

He turned to the door. "Follow me," he said.

"What?" she asked.

He took her hand and led the way to the door. "We're getting out of here." He said.

Her eyes grew wide in surprise. "But…but where are we going?" she asked.

"Anywhere but here… far away from here… in Nibelheim. In the ShinRa Mansion… we'll hide there and nobody will find us there," he told her with a reassuring smile.

She looked up at him in disbelief. "But… but… what if they find us? They might force us apart!" she said with a worried look on her face.

He shook his head. "I won't let that happen anymore, Lucrecia." He said as he opened the door. "I've spoken to Rufus about how I don't really want the transfusion to continue, but he wouldn't listen to me. This is the only thing that I could think of. I have to protect you from him… and from ShinRa, Lucrecia." 

Lucrecia looked up at his red eyes. "Thank you, Vincent…" she said with a tired, but grateful smile. "But, is this really a good idea?…" she thought to himself. 

**

"Ah… ah… CHOO!" Yuffie sneezed. 

"FOO! Watch where you'z sneezin', why dontcha?!?!" Barret screamed as bits of the sandwich Yuffie was eating pelted him at the face. 

Yuffie rubbed her nose, which was turning redder by the second. "Sorry 'bout that, Barret…" she said sheepishly. 

"$#%@… Somebody must have thought of you, brat," Cid said, looking up from the TV. 

"No, usually, when I sneeze, something big is happening that I don't know of…" Yuffie explained, shrugging. "Now, where's Tifa? She should know where the tissues are…" 

"I don't think she's home yet…" Red XIII said. "Come to think of it, I don't think Aerith or Cloud had come home yet…" 

"Hey! The wedding thing, right? How come they haven't told us anything else about it?" Yuffie asked. 

Barret rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Dunno… Seems kinda sudden, though… Like Aerith just said it out of the blue, or something…" 

He was interrupted by the slamming of the front door. Seconds later, Tifa, Aerith and Cloud entered the room. Since it was almost midnight, they stopped at their tracks and looked at them in dismay. 

"Oh, there ya three &^%%*$' bozos are! What are you three doing out at this late hour?" Cid asked.

"Yeah, like you've been doin' for the past three weeks?" Barret asked with narrowed eyes. 

"Uh… how about you people? What are doing up?" Tifa asked slowly. 

"Oh… just havin' a midnight snack!" Yuffie said. 

"Watchin' the late show with this ^%#&(…" Cid said, pointing to Barret. 

"And waiting for you three," Red XIII said, walking up to them.

Aerith and Cloud took a few steps backward before Red XIII could even sniff them.

Tifa looked down at Red XIII with a threatening look on her face. "Don't sniff me." She warned.

"Why?" Red XIII asked.

"I… I just smell like… like I didn't take a bath for 3 days, okay? Now if you'll excuse me…" she rushed to the stairs.

"Actually, she smells like Rufus ShinRa," Red XIII announced which made Tifa slip and fall down the stairs.

Aerith and Cloud were wide-eyed as they watched Tifa fall down the stairs. They looked at one another with a worried look.

"Wha? Rufus ShinRa?" Barret asked.

"The @#$% are you talkin' 'bout?!" Cid demanded with an enraged look on his face.

"Oh, what Red meant is… uhm… Tifa has been using the same perfume that Rufus uses! Heehee!" Aerith said as she approached Tifa to help her up. 

"Ow… my butt hurts…" Tifa muttered as she got up.

"Men's perfume?" Yuffie asked.

"It's unisex. It's Eau de ShinRa. You know, that new scent?" Cloud asked with a weak smile on his face.

"Hey, he's smiling. There must be something fishy," Yuffie thought silently as she approached Cloud and examined his face closely.

"Haven't heard of such a thing…" Cid muttered as he eyed the three suspiciously.

"It's nothing, okay? Just leave us alone!" Tifa snapped before rushing up the stairs again.

Red XIII started to sniff Aerith's dress and he looked up at Cloud, giving him a look that seems to be telling him "You guys went to ShinRa? What did you do there?"

Cloud frowned at Red XIII and Yuffie. "Darn…" he thought before going up the stairs with Aerith.

Silence followed for a few seconds before Yuffie turned to Red XIII with a frown on her face. "What did you smell?" she asked.

"I don't think they'd want me to reveal to these guys where they've been so I'll just say…" Red XIII thought silently as he looked up at Yuffie. "They just had a fight with the Turks that's why they smell like ShinRa." He fibbed.

"Yer tail's waggin', you're lyin'!" Barret snapped.

Red's good eye widened in shock. "What?!" he thought in alarm.

With that, Barret, Cid and Yuffie marched upstairs. "You force the truth out of Tifa; Cid and I will go bother Cloud & Aerith," Barret commanded Yuffie.

"Got it, man!" Yuffie said with a stern expression on her face.

*** 

            Rufus had awoken to the sound of someone knocking hysterically on his bedroom door. "What the hell…" he muttered miserably before rushing to the door, surprising Dark Nation.

He opened the door and frowned upon seeing Scarlet just wearing a bathrobe. "The hell with you?! Why are you still up at this unholy hour… wearing that?!" he demanded in disgust.

"Kyah! Forget that, President Rufus! It's Vincent & Lucrecia! They've escaped!" 

"How could they have escaped if they weren't even imprisoned in the first place?" Rufus demanded.

"Kyah! I don't know what's going on in their minds, sir, but they're gone anyway! Usually when Vincent would take her out for a walk, he'd tell me or Reeve! But tonight he didn't!" she explained.

Rufus smirked impishly at her. "Hmm… and what if you and Reeve _were together_ and Vincent knew so he just told Reno or anyone else including me?" he mocked.

"Kyah! Stop that, President Rufus! We've got a major problem here!" Scarlet said frantically.

"Alright, alright! Fine! Get Reeve… and by the way, how did you know that they're not here in ShinRa anymore?" he asked.

"A Soldier reported to me that he saw Vincent carrying Lucrecia and he climbed over the high gate because it was locked… that Soldier's been watching the surveillance monitors and he even saw them ride the elevator looking so suspicious." She explained.

Rufus frowned as he rushed back inside his room and grabbed his blue robe, car keys and mobile phone; passed by the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair three times before running out of his room. "Go and alert the others!" he commanded Scarlet as he sped up, leaving her standing there.

*** 

            "Tifa, open the door! Are you aware that this is also my room?!" Yuffie called out from outside.

Marlene stared up at Tifa. "Miss Tifa, why won't you let Miss Yuffie enter?" she asked.

Tifa pushed another cabinet in front of the door. "Because she's a mean little ninja and she eats girls with dark hair!" she said with a scary look on her face which made Marlene cringe.

"Really?" Marlene asked in awe.

"Yes," Tifa replied with a weak smile on her face before rushing to the window and opened it, letting the cool night air in.

"Tifa, if you don't open the door, I'll tell Barret!" Yuffie screamed.

"Go ahead and tell him! I don't care! Even if you make him crush that goddamn door, you cannot force me to tell you the truth!" Tifa screamed back.

"How did Tifa know that Barret told me to force the truth out of her?" Yuffie asked softly.

"Obviously, I heard it," Tifa muttered glumly. She heard her after all. 

Silence filled the whole room and Tifa was already panting. She was so tired, she wanted to sleep, but she still has to ward off the snoops. "I think I'd better go out for a while," she told Marlene softly as she began to climb through the window.

She landed on the roof of the neighbor's house, and as she did so, she winked at Marlene who was looking at her curiously. 

"Where am I going to go?" Tifa thought silently.

Then,  she was surprised when  she saw a shiny white expensive-looking car stop by their house. "What the…" she stopped in her tracks when the window to the driver's seat rolled down and there was Rufus inside the vehicle with a stern look on his face as he looked up at Tifa. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"I… I gotta get out of there… I… it's a long story, okay?" Tifa asked as she climbed down from the pipe and rushed to his car. "Look, can you take me away from here? I'll explain to you what happened during the ride," she said with a pleading look on her face as she opened the door to the front passenger seat and got in.

Rufus's eyes were wide as he stared at her unbelievably, but he shook his head to snap himself out of his "trance", "Where are Cloud and Aerith?" he asked.

"I don't know… but Barret and the others have found out where we've been going… and they're trying to force the truth out of us. We still can't tell them about Vincent and Lucrecia," Tifa said as she shut the door and put on her seatbelt.

Rufus stepped on the accelerator to start the vehicle going even without Cloud and Aerith. "That's just too bad…" he said with a deep frown on his face.

Tifa stared at him with curious eyes because of his pajamas. 

He noticed her staring at him so he smiled weakly while still keeping his eyes on the road. "I was in a hurry to go here because I'm afraid Vincent and Lucrecia ran away," he said.

"What? They ran away?" Tifa asked.

"That's what Scarlet was trying to say… but it sounded to me like the two just eloped." Rufus said as he flipped his hair.

Tifa blinked. "Eloped? Well… I guess we should have seen that coming… do you have any idea where they went, Rufus?" 

He shook his head. "I'm afraid not…" 

"Well…" Tifa began. "Do you have any intention of stopping them?" 

"I'm afraid so… even though I have nothing against them being together… they can't have a child together…" Rufus said, not taking his eyes off the road. 

"…. You're right…" Tifa said after some moments of silence.

It could result into another Sephiroth… Another Sephiroth could be dangerous. She didn't want to risk any more lives because of Sephiroth killing more people, but she also didn't want to burden Lucrecia. Rufus knew that too, but he just decided to keep quiet about it in front of Cloud and Aerith, but eventually told Tifa one day.

He kept his eyes on the road with a solemn look on his face. "Tomorrow is supposed to be the date of the transfusion, but due to the sudden turn of events… I guess I'll just have to cancel it." He thought silently. "I've already sent out a search for them." He began aloud.

Tifa looked down and sighed heavily. "Rufus," she said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Well… I think with the right parents, Sephiroth wouldn't be that bad…" she explained.

The traffic light turned red so he stopped before turning to Tifa. "What are you getting at?" he asked.

"Well… Aerith and I had discussed this… we think that maybe if Hojo raised Sephiroth properly and did not treat him like a guinea pig or something, I guess he wouldn't end up like that insane fool that he had turned out to be. After all, don't you think that a person's development would first depend on how his parents had treated him?" she asked with a gentle smile on her face.

He gazed at her, remembering his own childhood in the hands of his father. His gaze slowly traveled down to her hands as he smiled slowly. "I'll keep that in mind, Tifa," he said softly.

*** 

*** 

*** 

*** 

__________________________________________________________________ 

General Quistis's Note: The next chapter will be like 7 years later…. Gyah… prepare for insanity… :-) in the meantime, please read and review. Don't flame us anymore because I know how much this story sucks in your eyes… or you'll die in 7 days… *j/k* gyah… X_X


	7. Chapter Seven

Before I Wake To Find You Gone 

By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com) 

**Disclaimer**: We don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…

**General Quistis's Note:** Gomen nasai… I'm sorry… pardon me… but due to confusion, I just named one of the insert characters _Samara_…. ;_; I know it's a recycled name from my other fic _Claiming Tifa_… but hey, it's a nice name, right? ;_; gyah… -.-' Anyway, back to the story…

---------------------------------------------------------- 

            "Excuse me, madam," 

Lucrecia turned around when she heard someone call her attention. She smiled uneasily at the familiar-looking woman with long dark hair and crimson eyes. She hasn't seen that woman for seven years already… but she hoped that the woman wouldn't recognize her. "After all, I'm wearing different clothes…" she thought silently.

"Yes, ma'am?" Lucrecia asked.

"I seem to be lost. I'm supposed to meet my husband at the newly-built hotel here in Nibelheim but I don't know where it is," the woman said.

Lucrecia felt relieved that the woman did not seem to recognize her, but her thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone tug at her skirt. It was her six-year old son. "Mom, let's go back home. I'm hungry already," he said with an annoyed look in his green eyes.

"Just a moment, honey," Lucrecia replied before turning back to the woman who was looking strangely at the little boy. 

For sure, everyone thought that her son was abnormal because of the unusual color of his hair: silver. Plus, he was very smart and despite his age, he could qualify for ninth grade.

"It's two blocks away from here. You can tell your chauffer to take a right turn at the next street and go straight ahead. It's the beige-colored building." Lucrecia told the woman.

Tifa Lockheart ShinRa turned back to Lucrecia with a curious look on her face. "D…do I know you?" she asked.

Lucrecia raised her eyebrows at her and shook her head in disagreement. "I'm afraid not, ma'am. Excuse me," she said before grabbing her son's hand and dragging him with her to the direction of the ShinRa Mansion.

"Mrs. ShinRa," Tifa was interrupted when she heard Elena's voice from inside the black limousine. Tifa turned back to the limo and approached it. After she got inside, she decided to look outside and follow the woman and the little boy with her gaze, but to her surprise, they were gone.

"Is anything wrong, Mrs. ShinRa?" Elena asked.

Tifa turned back to Elena with a weak smile on her face. It has been seven years ever since Vincent and Lucrecia had disappeared. "N…nothing… I just thought I've seen Lucrecia… but anyway, let's just get going. Rufus is waiting for us," she said weakly.

Elena blinked before turning to the chauffer. "Let's go, man." She commanded.

*** 

            "We're home!"

Vincent closed the book that he was reading as he smiled happily at the sound of Lucrecia's voice. He got up when his little boy ran to him happily. "Daddy!" the little boy exclaimed excitedly with open arms.

Vincent embraced him and carried him up on his shoulder. "Hello, Sephiroth. Did you help mommy with the groceries?" he asked.

Sephiroth nodded happily. "Of course, daddy." He replied.

Lucrecia smiled as she watched Vincent and Sephiroth head together for the dining area. She followed closely behind them. "Careful, Vinny. You might hit Sephiroth's head again on those arches," she warned.

"Don't be silly, Lucrecia. Sephiroth is practically safe when it comes to me carrying him up my shoulder. Isn't that right, son?" he asked with a wink as he looked up at him.

"Heheh… you said it daddy!" Sephiroth said happily.

Upon reaching the dining area, Vincent settled Sephiroth on the floor again. The little boy with silver hair and green eyes rushed to his seat and sat down.

Vincent sat down at the head of the table and noticed the worried look on Lucrecia's face. "Anything wrong?" he asked.

She sat down uneasily and clasped her hands together on her lap. "I… I just saw Tifa Lockheart today… remember her?" she asked.

Vincent frowned slightly. "Yes, of course. I do remember her… but I think she's already a ShinRa based from the newspapers that I've read," he said.

Lucrecia bowed down her head. "Figures… just looking at her clothes…" she muttered.

Sephiroth frowned slightly as he observed his parents and listened further to their conversation.

"Where did you see her?" Vincent asked.

She looked up at her husband, "Sephiroth and I were on our way home when this limousine stopped. I pretended not to see it so I just turned away, but I think she personally got down from the limo to ask for directions. She said that she's going to meet Rufus in the newly-built hotel a little bit far from here." She said.

"Rufus is here?" he asked.

"Vincent, what if they find us?" she asked.

"Are we hiding from someone?" Sephiroth chimed in.

The two fell silent as they turned to Sephiroth.

"No, we're not, Sephiroth." Lucrecia replied with a stern look on her face.

He blinked and stared up at his mother before getting his spoon and fork and started eating.

With that, Lucrecia turned back to Vincent. "They're here in Nibelheim. What if they decided to inspect this place since this is Rufus's old home? I think Tifa even suspected that it's really me just when I thought that she failed to recognize me already because my clothes are different… but I saw her staring at Sephiroth like she knew him and there was fear in her eyes too…"

Vincent shook his head. "I don't know, Lucrecia… I haven't heard from Cloud, Aerith or Tifa for a long time already… I doubt if they're still interested in finding our whereabouts." He said.

Sephiroth accidentally dropped his spoon on his plate upon hearing those names. 

Vincent and Lucrecia turned their gazes to him.

He smiled sheepishly and grabbed his spoon again. "Sorry. It slipped my hand…" he said sheepishly before starting to eat again. But in his mind, he was thinking, "I've heard of those names before… but when? Though I'm certain that this is the first time that mom and dad mentioned those…"

*** 

            Rufus turned his gaze from his luggage to the door when he heard it open. He smiled when he saw Tifa enter. "Hello," he greeted.

She walked over to him and gave him a kiss, but he couldn't help but notice the confused look on her face. "Anything wrong?" he asked with a slight frown.

She sighed heavily. "I think I just saw Lucrecia… she's with this little boy who looks like Sephiroth," she replied uneasily.

His mouth dropped open in surprise. "What? Lucrecia?" he asked. His frown deepened. "…and Sephiroth?" he asked.

The one big thing that they were trying to prevent has happened already. 

He kept his eyes on her. "What about Vincent?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I'm not so sure. I was about to find out where they were going but when I looked again, they were gone. But I'm positive that they're heading for the direction of the ShinRa Mansion." She said.

Rufus looked down and flipped his hair. "I'm certain that Cloud once mentioned that Vincent resided in that place for several years… it could be quite possible that after they ran away, they could just head there." he smiled weakly at her. "Why didn't we think of that before?" he asked.

Tifa was about to answer but she was interrupted when Heidegger and a little girl entered the scene without any warning. She smiled at the little girl, "Samara," she said.

"Oh there you are… I've been looking all over for you. Where have you been?" Rufus asked with a stiff tone as the little girl ran to Tifa and embraced her.

The little girl turned her icy blue eyes to Heidegger. 

Heidegger jerked upon seeing the little girl look up at him. "Gyah… I just took Miss Samara out for a walk, President Rufus. She said she wanted to see the town where her mother grew up. Isn't that right, Miss Samara?" he asked with a weak smile on his face.

She just frowned at him and looked up at her mother. "That's what I wanted to do, Mommy… but he was looking for a person." She admitted with a sly smile on her face.

Heidegger thought that for a little girl, Samara was too wise, too haughty and too sly… just like her father… and he somewhat hated it.

Rufus and Tifa turned to Heidegger with surprised looks on their faces. "What person?" the former asked.

"Uhm… gyahahahahahahaha! President Rufus, who knows, Miss Samara could be making up stories, right?" Heidegger asked.

Tifa frowned at him. "Are you saying that my daughter is a liar, General Heidegger?" she snapped.

Heidegger froze when he saw Samara giving him a warning look that seems to be saying, "I will kill you…"

Samara smiled slyly at him and looked up at her mother again, "I believe that person's name is Vincent Valentine." She blurted out.

"Stupid kid… what does she know anyway? Gyah! I know how much she hates me but does she always have to get in my way?!" Heidegger thought angrily. He looked away from all of them, "Besides, I'm certain that that Vincent Valentine already has a little boy named Sephiroth. ShinRa is in need of a stronger Soldier… and if Lucrecia is the mother, history could repeat itself. I can take the boy in ShinRa and train him to be qualified for Soldier… and he'll be the greatest!" he thought silently with a secret smile on his face.

Rufus frowned at Heidegger. "What do you want with Vincent Valentine?" he asked.

"Gyah… nothing, sir. I just want to see how he's doing. I suppose he's here in Nibelheim based from all the things that I've heard… that he's in the ShinRa Mansion with his little family," Heidegger admitted with a stern look on his face.

"I'm warning you, Heidegger. Leave them alone. They're not doing anything stupid. Besides, they're not worth ShinRa's time anymore. We have other plans than to try to suck up all the JENOVA from that woman. I trust Vincent Valentine and that woman that they are good parents because if they're not, a little boy with silver hair could just be running around holding a Masamune and slashing everyone that passes his way." Rufus replied with a haughty look on his face as he flipped his hair before turning to Tifa. "Isn't that right, Tifa?" he asked.

Tifa smiled at him before looking down at Samara and stroked her daughter's long black hair. "Of course, Rufus," she replied as she brushed off the hair that covered Samara's face. "What did you do to your ribbon again?" she asked.

"I didn't wear it today because daddy doesn't know how to tie my hair." Samara replied.

Tifa smiled impishly at Rufus. "Next time, I won't allow you to take her in your out-of-town conferences if you wouldn't keep track of her appearance. Why, she looks scary with all her hair covering her face!" she said.

He just smiled at her. "I think it looks just fine, right, Samara?" he asked, turning to his daughter.

Samara let go of Tifa and looked up at Rufus. "Daddy, next time, can Mister Reeve be my babysitter?" she asked.

"Well… whatever you want, Samara," Rufus replied before turning to Heidegger. "You take the limo with Elena and the rest. I'll take the chopper with Tifa and Samara. Understood?" he asked.

"Gyah… yes, sir," Heidegger replied.

"You can take these luggage with you downstairs to the limo. We'll be going down in a minute," Rufus commanded.

Heidegger headed for Rufus's luggage and carried them to the door. He exited without saying anything, but he was thinking, "Gyah… if President Rufus doesn't like my idea, then I'll just proceed on my own… I will get that Sephiroth for the sake of ShinRa. Gyahahahahahahahahahaha."

*** 

            Sephiroth was seated in the library of the ShinRa Mansion reading all the books he could find about JENOVA. He knows that he has those in his bloodstream; his parents had informed him. For some reason, he was thankful that his parents were honest enough to explain everything to him… and he didn't have to find out everything for himself and feel bad about it.

"Sephiroth, we know that you are far more advanced and talented than all the other kids out there, but please, for our sake, do not let it all go into your head. You wouldn't want to make your mother disappointed, right?" he could recall his father telling him that.

And he agreed.

Vincent watched from the doorway as his son continued to read without really knowing that someone was watching him. "He's very different from the old Sephiroth…" he thought silently with a slight smile on his face. "And I hope it stays that way," he continued before leaving.

Eventually, everything bored Sephiroth so he just stopped reading and got up from the chair. "Gotta get some fresh air…" he mumbled with a happy smile on his face before running. "I'm going out!" he yelled before he got out.

"Be back before dinner!" Lucrecia yelled back.

Sephiroth got out of the ShinRa Mansion and ran down the streets of Nibelheim with a happy smile on his face. He kept on running and running, enjoying the cool afternoon breeze blowing through his face, until he stopped to catch his breath in front of the newly-built hotel. He noticed a rich couple and their daughter heading for the chopper that was ready to fly on the helipad. He frowned when he realized that he could recognize the rich couple. "I've seen them before… but where? Though I'm certain that I do not know them…" he thought silently. He stopped his thoughts when he saw the daughter eye him curiously before boarding the chopper.

Noticing that his daughter was looking at something, Rufus followed her gaze which led to the boy with silver hair and green eyes. His eyes grew wide upon seeing the boy and he stopped in his tracks and gave Tifa a gentle nudge.

Tifa turned and saw the boy.

Sephiroth wondered why they were looking at him. "What's their problem?" he thought silently with a ridiculous look on his face before he decided to just turn and walk away. "Oh well… there's nothing to see there but rich people." He thought.

"Who's that, mommy? Why is he looking at us?" Samara asked, interrupting her parents.

"N…nothing, Samara. It's just that… he resembles someone." Tifa replied with a weak smile before boarding the chopper. Rufus followed after her with a deep frown on his face. "It is Sephiroth…" he thought silently as he looked at Tifa and noticed the worried look on her face.

But they were determined to just leave the boy and his family alone.

After all, nothing bad could happen, right?

Heidegger waited until the chopper took off. He turned to the chauffer of the limo and smiled cruelly, "Gyah… I want you to go after that kid," he said.

Elena's eyes grew wide. "What?!"

The chauffer stared at Heidegger.

Elena tugged at Heidegger's sleeve. "But, General Heidegger… why?" she asked.

"He's going to be a Soldier, 'ayt?" Heidegger replied before nudging the chauffer. "Now go! Stop before him and I'll grab him!" he snapped.

Sephiroth stopped when he heard the sound of a vehicle behind him. He was surprised to see the black limo and the fat guy coming down from it and rushing to him. "What the…" he thought silently.

The fat guy swept him off from the ground and covered his face with some kind of cloth. "Argh! Let me go!" Sephiroth cried out, but his voice sounded so muffled.

"Gyahahahahahahahaha! You're coming with us, Sephiroth!" Heidegger cheered.

"How did you know my name?!" Sephiroth wanted to say in confusion, but he can't. There was some kind of sleep stuff in the cloth…

"No… things like these should not work for me… I'm supposed to be invincible… but… why? Who am I?!" Sephiroth thought in confusion as he slowly closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

Elena stared in fear at the little boy, which Heidegger had placed beside her as he got back inside the limo. 

"Let's get out of here!" Heidegger commanded.

As the limo started to move, Elena really wanted to slap Heidegger's face, but she couldn't. He was superior than her. "General Heidegger… what are we going to do with… with Sephiroth?" she asked.

"I'll take care of this boy and train him to become the formidable high-ranking First Class Soldier that ShinRa's ever possessed in its grasps! Gyahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Heidegger explained with a victorious look on his face.

"But… what if he wakes up and he escapes!? You know that he's not an ordinary child!" Elena asked.

"Gyahahahaha! That's chicken feed, Elena. And shut up about it or I'll make sure that you'll not only lose your job but also your life! Gyah…" Heidegger snapped.

Elena bit her lower lip and just kept quiet.

*** 

            "Where's Sephiroth?" Vincent asked.

Lucrecia looked up at the grandfather's clock in one corner of the dining room and then down to the floor with a worried look on her face. She clenched her fists. "He said that he's just going out… how come he's not yet here?" she asked.

Vincent frowned as he approached her. "He went out?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm getting worried about him… what if something bad happened to him?" she asked as tears slowly filled her eyes.

He embraced her and tried to comfort her. "Stop being pessimistic, Lucrecia. He's coming home…" he said gently. Though something was telling him that Sephiroth wouldn't be coming home… and it made him feel nervous.

Midnight came and Sephiroth wasn't home yet and Lucrecia was already beginning to lose her patience. "Where is he?!" she screamed as she cried.

Vincent clenched his right fist before decided to leave her for a while and search for Sephiroth around Nibelheim. As he walked around the little town, he recalled Lucrecia telling him that Tifa and Rufus were in town. He checked on the hotel but the receptionist informed him that the ShinRas checked out that afternoon.

Vincent's eyes grew wide. "No… they can't do this to me… they can't take Sephiroth… no… they want Lucrecia but they couldn't have her… so they took Sephiroth…" he thought silently with a troubled look on his face as he made his way back to the mansion where Lucrecia was still crying helplessly in their room.

She glared up at him angrily. "They took him away from us!" she screamed.

He didn't know what to say.

She got up and made a run for the door but he stopped her by holding her tightly. "Lucrecia, no! It's dangerous to go to Midgar at this hour," he said.

She pounded helplessly on his chest. "Vincent… why are they doing this to me?! Am I still paying for my sins?! Why not me?! Why Sephiroth?!" she cried in despair.

Vincent tried his best not to let his tears show as he embraced his beloved Lucrecia. "I'm getting our son back here, Lucrecia…" he thought silently with a deep frown on his face.

*** 

            Sephiroth looked up at the stars from outside his bedroom window. "So I'm to become a Soldier…" he thought silently with a proud look on his face.

He could recall his talk with Heidegger and what he said to him: "It will impress your parents. You'd want to impress them, right?"

Sephiroth smiled. "Of course, I want to impress my parents…" he decided.

Heidegger took him to Junon so that he could start training there. For starters, he already presented to him a very long sword… 

To Sephiroth, when he got hold of the sword, he just unconsciously began to do some different slashes with it… like he had known how to use it for a long time.

"This is called the Masamune, right?" he asked mindlessly.

Heidegger was surprised at the question. "Of course. That is the Masamune." He replied with a determined look on his face. "Gyahahahaha. I can prove President Rufus wrong… Sephiroth is going to be the best Soldier ever again…" he thought silently.

*** 


	8. Chapter Eight

Before I Wake To Find You Gone 

By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com) 

**Disclaimer**: We don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…

---------------------------------------------------------------- 

_Five weeks later…_

            "I just can't believe these reports from Junon. SOLDIER is definitely improving," Rufus told Tifa.

She turned to him with a worried look on her face. "I don't like the sound of it," she admitted.

He stared at her unbelievably as she spoke, "I forgot to mention to you that Vincent visited a week ago. What he said was very disturbing for me… but he's blaming us plus Cloud & Aerith for the disappearance of Sephiroth."

He frowned slightly. "Disappearance of his son?" he asked.

"That's what he said," she replied.

"He personally talked to you and confronted you about it? What did you tell him?" he asked as he got up from his office seat and put down the reports on his table.

"I told him that I really don't know anything about it… which is true. I mean, you weren't holding any secret operations for them, right?" she asked.

He shook his head and flipped his hair as he approached her. "Of course not! I'm practically counting on the parenting skills of those two in the development of Sephiroth whether he's gonna a be another bad seed or not." He replied with a ridiculous look on his face.

She sat down on the couch. "What made me worry is that report which Heidegger had sent to you from Junon. What if it's true? I mean, Heidegger once proposed to you that he insists on finding Vincent and Lucrecia so that he could get Sephiroth to join SOLDIER for the so-called benefit of ShinRa, right? What if that old tub of lard just kidnapped the poor child and took him to Junon?" she asked as she clasped her hands together on her lap while still keeping her gaze up at Rufus.

He knew that Tifa had a point, but he tried to keep a straight face. 

"Have you tried questioning Heidegger about it or maybe he mentioned new additions to SOLDIER in that report?" Tifa asked.

He shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Tifa, I…" he trailed off when somebody just entered his office without any warning. They both turned to that person and they were surprised to find out that it was Elena.

"Anything wrong, Elena? You shouldn't be barging in just like that," Rufus snapped.

She nodded her head in apology. "I'm so sorry, President Rufus and Mrs. ShinRa… but… I must speak to you now or shut up forever when something bad happens again…" she said.

"What do you mean?" Tifa asked as she got up.

Elena approached them. "Please don't tell General Heidegger that I was the one who informed you that on the day that we left Nibelheim to return here in Midgar, he kidnapped Sephiroth and kept him in Junon, training him to become a SOLDIER." She explained.

Tifa and Rufus both stared at Elena in awe. "What?!" the latter cried out in annoyance.

Elena clenched her fists. "General Heidegger even warned me about being a snitch… he said that he'll kill me if I tell anyone… but I can't risk losing too many lives again because of Sephiroth's danger, President Rufus… so I just decided to tell you and Mrs. ShinRa…" she trailed off when Rufus turned his back to them. 

He was clenching his fists in too much rage as he went to his desk and pressed the intercom button and spoke to the secretary. "Get me General Heidegger. Tell him to come ASAP here in Junon and tell him to bring the child Sephiroth with him."

Tifa smiled reassuringly at Elena. "Don't worry, Elena, we're gonna make sure that Heidegger wouldn't do anything bad to you." She said. With that, Elena thanked them and left the office.

Rufus smiled smugly at them. "Hmf… maybe it's also high time for me to get a new General who would also serve as the Head of Public Maintenance and Order Division of this Company," he said with an evil glint in his eyes before eyeing his shotgun that was resting on the coffee table.

Tifa interrupted him as she approached him and pressed the intercom button and spoke to the secretary with a stern tone, "Tell Reno to head for the ShinRa Mansion in Nibelheim and take Vincent and Lucrecia Valentine here in Midgar. Tell Reno to tell the Valentines that I requested for their company here because we have found their child."

*** 

            Sephiroth wondered why Heidegger had been so cranky ever since that morning, and it worsened when they were asked to head for Midgar, but he just kept quiet and didn't ask him. 

"Hmf… he might yell at me again… oh well… as long as I can handle my weapon properly and remain the best there is…" Sephiroth thought silently with a secret smile on his face.

Upon arriving in ShinRa HQ, Midgar, they headed straight for Rufus's office. On their way there, they didn't know that Samara was watching them from one corner of the hallway. She eyed the two curiously with a deep frown on her face. "Someone is going to die…" she just thought quietly.

But she was nervous because she didn't know who was going to die…

*** 

            "Lucrecia," Vincent began. 

She just stared at him blankly.

Reno scratched his head. "Just hurry the hell up. The chopper's waiting outside," he said before leaving the room.

Vincent approached Lucrecia and helped her up from the bed. "We're going to Midgar, let's go." He said gently.

"But Sephiroth isn't home yet," she said.

"Oh man, I think this woman's crazy already," Reno thought upon hearing that from outside.

"He will be home, Lucrecia; we just have to pick him up. He's in Midgar waiting for us," Vincent said reassuringly. She just nodded her head sadly. "Will it be safe there?" she asked.

"As long as I'm here, you're out of danger, okay?" he asked.

She didn't answer. She just walked with wobbly steps while Vincent guided her outside to the chopper.

*** 

            Sephiroth looked up strangely at Tifa, then to Rufus, while listening to Heidegger speak up, "Gyah! All I wanted to do was help you, President Rufus! And so I present to you the strongest of all the soldiers of ShinRa!"

"You just made a move to ruin my Company's reputation again by kidnapping Sephiroth! You call that helping me?" Rufus snapped impatiently.

"Gyah…" 

"You're fired," Rufus said.

"Gyah?!"

"Stop that, get out of here!" Rufus snapped.

Heidegger frowned at him and grabbed Sephiroth's hand. "Let's go, child." He said.

"Where are you taking him?" Tifa demanded.

"I'm taking this child with me! He is going to be the best!" Heidegger snapped as he dragged Sephiroth to the door.

Tifa ran after them. "You're not going anywhere with that child! He's not yours!" she argued as she grabbed Sephiroth's hand.

The little boy sneered at her and he instantly got his Masamune.

She hated the sight of that weapon and because of surprise, she let go of Sephiroth as Heidegger stopped in his tracks and let go of the boy.

Everyone was in awe upon seeing such a weapon in the hands of a little boy… and he was able to draw it properly without difficulty… the same style that the old Sephiroth had done before. "You're not going to do anything stupid to me, are you, Tifa? Or do you want me to injure you so badly you won't be able to survive this time the way you did before?" he warned angrily with a mean smile on once innocent face.

Silence filled the room for several seconds and that's when Sephiroth suddenly came back into his senses and stared at his Masamune unbelievably, then turned his widened green eyes to Tifa. His mouth dropped open as he took a few steps backward. "Wh…where did those words come from?" he asked with teary eyes as he dropped the long weapon to the ground. He covered his mouth with his right hand as he stared up at Heidegger.

Heidegger was looking at Rufus. "President Rufus was right… Sephiroth is a dangerous fellow… Vincent and Lucrecia should've just thought twice about having a child…" he thought in awe as he took a few steps backward and grabbed his gun, aiming at Sephiroth. "This damned child should die," he mumbled with an evil glint on his face; but before he could harm the little boy, Rufus grabbed his own shotgun and shot Heidegger on the left shoulder… but Heidegger was able to pull the trigger, and when he fell, the bullet just fired to Tifa's direction, hitting her left thigh.

"Tifa!" Rufus cried out in alarm as he rushed to her.

"I… I'm fine…" she said despite the pain.

Sephiroth's eyes were wide in awe as he watched the blood come out from Heidegger's wound. Heidegger struggled to get up, but he couldn't. 

The child had some bloodstains splattered against his face and his clothes; he touched it with his trembling hand and stared unbelievably at it, the memories from his first life coming back into his senses.

All eyes turned to the door when Vincent and Lucrecia entered. The latter's eyes grew wide upon seeing Sephiroth standing there with some bloodstains. "Sephiroth!" she said happily as she ran to her son.

Sephiroth looked up at his mother and suddenly, all the bad memories from his first life seemed to fade away. "Mommy!" he said happily he welcomed his mother with open arms, but before he could get the chance to embrace her, Heidegger grabbed his gun again and aimed at Lucrecia.

"The root of Sephiroth's evil should die first!" he thought with an evil glint in his eye before he pulled the trigger.

"NO!" Vincent cried out as he watched the bullet hit Lucrecia straight into her heart.

Sephiroth's eyes widened in shock as he opened his mouth to let out a silent scream as he watched his mother fall to the ground. 

She raised her gaze from the floor to him and reached out a bloody hand to him. "S…Sephi…Sephiroth… my dear beloved son…" she struggled to say.

Sephiroth just stared down at his mother's hand as he slowly made his way to her, wanting to hold her hand. He grasped her hands into his but he did not say anything. 

Vincent ran to them and knelt down beside the dying Lucrecia. 

"Too much blood loss can kill her… all the JENOVA from her body are flowing with it…" he thought silently as he took her in his arms and embraced her tightly as tears fell from his eyes.

She smiled lovingly at him. "I love you, Vincent… please take care of our Sephiroth…" she whispered before finally closing her eyes. 

Sephiroth's green eyes became blank in terror as her hand slipped away from his and dropped lifelessly to the ground. He bowed down his head and listened to the sobbing of his father.

With that, he walked away from his parents and went to get his Masamune that was lying on the ground. He picked it up and he smiled angrily. "ShinRa caused this… they should die… if they did not start with the JENOVA project in the first place, this wouldn't have happened. Mommy could still be alive; daddy could still be happy… we'll all be happy… why must they do this to us?!" he mumbled under his breath as he swung the Masamune to Heidegger's direction, eventually slicing him into two, then turned to Rufus and then to Tifa.

"Shit…" Rufus muttered.

Tifa watched Sephiroth in horror as he approached them with an angry look on his face.

Vincent stared unbelievably at Sephiroth. "No…" he wanted to say, but he couldn't speak. He was in too much shock. Sephiroth is only a little boy… and he is already capable of killing people… and Vincent and Lucrecia swore to one another that they would protect their Sephiroth from all the evils of the world…

He clenched his fists in disappointment. "No… Sephiroth… don't… for your mother's sake, please… don't…" he thought silently as he watched Sephiroth kill Tifa and Rufus.

Vincent closed his eyes, wishing that everything was a nightmare… and he'd be waking up inside his coffin again… but it wasn't. It all happened before his eyes… and it made him lose hope.

Sephiroth turned his gaze to his father and smiled innocently at him. "Don't worry, daddy. We'll get even with the evil people for doing this to mommy…" he said before walking to the door with the Masamune still in his grasp, leaving Vincent feeling so numb and jaded. 

Sephiroth stopped in his tracks when he saw Samara standing by the doorway with her hair covering her face. He couldn't tell if her head was bowed down or not, but he didn't care anymore. 

He saw her left eye looking up at him with a blank stare, and he knew for certain that she saw everything. 

They just stared at each other for a few seconds more before he decided to just leave her there. The long blade of his Masamune brushed against her white dress, staining it with blood. 

She bowed down her head as she gazed blankly at the floor before turning around and followed Sephiroth with her gaze. She watched as he boarded the elevator with a mind full of blank thoughts.

Samara turned to her side when she sensed some movement from behind her. She saw Vincent carrying the dead Lucrecia in his arms with a blank stare on his face. He gazed wearily at Samara as he stopped by the doorway. "Tell your mom and dad that we visited. Did you see Sephiroth?" he asked.

Samara did not answer. She just continued to hide her face behind her hair.

Vincent smiled wearily at her. "Don't worry. On our next visit, you can play with Sephiroth. He's a very good boy, you know?" he said with a calm tone before looking away and proceeded to the elevator.

*** 

            Cloud didn't know why he had the urge to go to the front door of his house and open the door, but he just followed his instincts. He gazed quietly at Aerith, his sleeping wife, as he quickly put on his slippers and went out of their room. "It's 3 am…" he realized as he got down the stairs and rushed to the front door. Upon opening it, he thought he was going to have a heart attack upon seeing his friends' daughter standing in front of him with her hair covering her face.

"Whoa!" he cried out in surprise. "Wh…what are you doing here, Samara?" he asked with a weak smile on his face, but it eventually faded away when he noticed her bloodstained clothes.

She looked up at him, her hair slowly revealing her blue eyes. She smiled calmly at Cloud. "Hello, Mister Cloud. Can I sleep over here? Mommy and daddy went for a trip to the Lifestream this afternoon and I think they won't be returning for a long time." She said… 

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-end?!-

General Quistis's Note: If you want a sequel, kindly mention it when you review this… if you think that Samara sucks, then please, don't waste your time flaming me about her anymore… oh yes, do review this or else you will die in seven days… mwahahahahahahaha! *smiles creepily at all of you*


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